Your Right Move » Stamp Duty

End stamp duty holiday looms

Zanet — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:12:18 +0000

It’s noteworthy that the end of the stamp duty holiday looms for first-time buyers with just 5 months to go, sellers with homes worth £250,000 or less should acknowledge call to action

First-time buyers should be aware that the 25th October marks just five months to go until the stamp duty holiday ends. Under current arrangements, first-time buyers purchasing a property under £250,000 don’t have to pay any stamp duty. After 25th March 2012, all properties between £125,000 and £250,000 will incur a stamp duty levy of 1% of the purchase price, reports a spokesman from The Robinson Jackson Group

Stamp Duty Exemption Set to Continue

Stamp duty holiday?- £250,000 buys you a lot of property!

Estate agent Robinson Jackson says the deadline is particularly important to buyers in South East London, North Kent and the Medway as there are plenty of starter homes in this catchment: “We’re incredibly lucky that almost 900 of the properties we have for sale at the moment are priced at less than £250,000. In many instances, a budget of just £100,000 to £150,000 can buy you a good sized flat or small house. Not many London and Home Counties estate agents can say that so we’re telling first-time buyers to pick up the phone to us now as we want to help them make the most of their budget,” says Peter Jackson, co-founder of the estate agents that has 30 branches and departments in London and Kent.

Thinking of selling? Act now

And it’s not just first-time buyers who should sit up and take notice of the 25th March deadline. Sellers should also appreciate that now is the time to sell a property that would make a good starter home. Peter goes on to say: “If your home is worth £250,000 or less, now it the time to think about selling. We’re anticipating an influx of buyers looking to squeeze in a purchase before the stamp duty holiday ends but they’re going to be disappointed unless there’s more starter homeson our books. We have a ready-made audience out there looking to complete by March 2012.”

Time is of the essence

Peter Jackson says that the stamp duty holiday could bypass first-time buyers: “We are urging those wishing to take the first step onto the property ladder to start their search now. People have to factor in the time it takes to find, view and complete on a property. Once an offer has been made it’s not usual for completion to take two or three months, especially if there is an associated chain. Now is the ideal time to start looking and making serious offers.”

The stamp duty holiday was introduced to stimulate the property market but it’s not until now that mortgage lending conditions are starting to improve. Peter says that with the right guarantees and flexible approach, first-time buyers can secure a mortgage of up to 95%: “Property prices are stable, we’re still in the stamp duty holiday period and there are some better mortgage products coming to market so it’s a good time to pay us a visit and find out what’s within your budget. However, first-time buyers who fail to make offers in the next two months might find they miss the boat and will end up paying a 1% stamp duty fee. So please act now!”

Peter concludes by saying: “There’s a small window of real opportunity here for first-time buyers and sellers of starter homes worth less than £250,000.

Pick up the phone or visit us in branch to find out how we can help you before the deadline is upon us.”

The stamp duty holiday has certainly helped many – do you think it should extend into next year?

Rightmove says property is on market for 94 days

Zanet — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 07:48:22 +0000

Rightmove reports that with only 98 days left until Christmas, now is the time to put your property on the market to be sold before Christmas. We are all familiar with the propert slow down every year leading up to christmas, so there really is very little time left to start marketing, especially with changes coming in March 2012 stamp duty relief.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside, along with other property portals, building societies and banks also remember this month is 3 years on since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which triggered the freeze in credit markets and wholesale mortgage funding, additionally there is the ending of first-time buyer stamp duty relief on the 25th of March 2012. The nil-rate threshold will fall from £250,000 to £125,000, so first-time buyers should be aware that they must have completed their purchase by that date to avoid paying stamp duty of 1% of their purchase price.

Rightmove reports that with only 98 days left until Christmas - Market Now

The director of Rightmove referes to the need to remember the Stamp Duty relief will soon be over and says: “Many buyers hope to move in before the Christmas break and enjoy their turkey in their new abode. With less than 100 days left before Christmas there’s an opportunity for some deadline-focused movers to do their bit to get some action into a market that is still pretty moribund three years after the financial fiascos that precipitated the downturn. It’s a delicate balance between the markets not being flooded with sellers desperate to sell and having enough of them to bring prices down to more affordable levels and encourage more buyer activity.”

He also mentioned the relative shortage of property coming to market continues to help underpin prices, with the average unsold stock per estate agency branch only slightly up from three years ago, at 78 properties.

So with these current market conditions and the 94 day average time a property is on the market, sellers seeking to tie up a deal in the 98 days left before Christmas need to take action now to undercut and out-promote their competition and get their property sold.

Stamp Duty Exemption Set to Continue

Zanet — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:54:42 +0000

Stamp Duty Exemption Set to Continue

Pressure is building on the Government to continue with the current exemption of Stamp Duty for properties under £175,000.

Stamp Duty Exemption Set to Continue

Along with Backbenchers, National Association of Estate Agents, and the Association of Residential Letting Agents are calling for the extension of the Stamp Duty exemption, for another year.

The housing market is on the road to recovery with the return of the first time buyer. If the Stamp Duty exemption is not extended at this fragile point of recovery, there is fear that months of work will instantly unravel causing a great deal of damage to the market.

Is the UK Economy Heading for a Massive Recession?

Zanet — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:51:00 +0000

Is the UK Economy Heading for a Massive Recession?
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown suspended a homebuyer tax and proposed spending 1 billion pounds sooner than planned to help reverse Britain’s worst housing slump in at least 18 years. The economic slowdown has sent the pound to a record low against the euro. Britain is heading for its first recession since the early 1990s after the economy stagnated in the second quarter.

The funds will be used to help people buy new homes and support those struggling to pay their mortgages. From tomorrow, residential properties worth less than 175,000 pounds will be exempt from stamp duty for a year under plans announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling.

It’s claimed that the chances are the economy is fast heading into a recession if something radical isn’t done and done quickly.

So how is the package funded? The rescue package will be funded by spending more quickly the 6.5 billion pounds earmarked for social-housing programs over the next three years so that more of it is used in the next 12 months.

The stamp duty move effectively raises the current threshold for paying the tax from 125,000 pounds. As a result, the share of housing transactions exempt from the levy will rise to a half from a third. The move will cost the Treasury 600 million pounds in foregone revenue over the 12 months.

So what about the mention of Interest-Free Loans? This would offer help to first-time buyers earning less than 60k a year for up to a third of the value of a newly built property. The interest-free loans, funded by the government and the property developer, will be available for up to five years before ending, this will give a significant boost for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

Another announcement confirmed the government will also give money to several thousand households at risk of falling behind with mortgage payments in return for an equity stake in the properties. Housing associations would be given the money to buy and then rent back properties to those struggling to make payments, or buy or rent a share of the property to help reduce payments. The plans are part of a broader economic package that Brown will unveil by Sept. 8, when the Cabinet meets for the first time following the summer parliamentary recess.

So is the UK heading for a recession?
The U.K. Stamp Duty – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government cut an unpopular tax on home purchases on Tuesday to also help the slumping housing market. Some feel the stamp duty holiday may provide the domestic housing market with a marginal stimulus but there is doubt it will give a major effect in getting the housing market moving again.

The stamp duty equals 1 percent of the purchase price for houses costing between 125,000 pounds and 250,000 pounds. The fee rises to 3 percent for homes up to 500,000 pounds and to 4 percent above that level. The average U.K. house price was 178,364 pounds in July, according to the Land Registry, making the levy about 1,700 pounds.
A surge in food and fuel costs ate into the wages of consumers as a worldwide credit crunch dried up mortgage financing.