How sellers can make the most of the stamp duty holiday extension

If you’re planning to sell and want to make the most of the stamp duty holiday extension, now is the time to put your home on the market.

This is because, at the moment, the average time for a seller to find a buyer is 65 days, and we estimate it is currently taking a further 126 days to go through the legal process to completion.

Based on this, our data analysts suggest that sellers should be looking to put their home up for sale by Tuesday 23rd March if they want to make sure their buyers can make use of the tapering end to the stamp duty holiday by the end of September.

And it seems the stamp duty holiday announcement in the Spring 2021 Budget sparked a flurry of home-hunter activity.

We saw a rush of new buyers coming into the market and contacting estate agents on budget day – 82% higher than on the same day in 2020.

The announcement of an extension and tapered ending to the stamp duty holiday, and the introduction of 5% deposits, also led to our website recording its busiest day ever.

The busiest day last year was on 8th July when the stamp duty holiday was first announced, though this had recently been overtaken on Wednesday 17th February when visits were just over 8.5 million.

On Wednesday 3rd March, visits surpassed 9 million for the first time, and home-hunters spent a record 71 million minutes on the Rightmove website!

When has the stamp duty holiday been extended until?

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in the Spring 2021 Budget that there will be a tapered extension to the stamp duty.

The extension means if you’re buying a home up to the value of £500,000 you will not pay any stamp duty if the purchase is completed by 30th June 2021.

Then, to smooth the transition back to normal, the nil rate threshold will be set at £250,000 until the end of September, before returning to the usual threshold of £125,000 on 1st October 2021.

You can read more about the stamp duty holiday extension, here.

Where are the biggest winners of the tapering end to the stamp duty holiday?

This table shows the areas in England where there are at least 99% of properties up for sale at £250,000 or less:

What do the experts say?

Our resident property data expert Tim Bannister explained that lots of buyers now have the motivation to move home and expects the spring market to be busy this year.

He said: “It’s clear from our record-breaking traffic numbers that the Spring Budget has introduced buyers into the market who were not perhaps able to consider moving until now or who were waiting to hear what was going to happen to stamp duty.

“The stamp duty holiday extension, coupled with the introduction of 5% deposits, has given many people the certainty they have been looking for to press ahead with their home-moving plans.

“We expect this to help spring market activity and could encourage more sellers to come to market especially in the areas where property prices are lower.

“Many people who may have been delaying a move for a whole multitude of reasons now have the impetus and encouragement to take their next life step – whether it’s getting a foot on the property ladder as a first-time buyer or trading up for more space and a bigger garden.”

 

READ MORE: What does the Spring Budget mean for the property market?

The header image for this article comes courtesy of Saxon Shore.


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