EYE NEWSFLASH! Stamp Duty permanently abolished for first-time buyers up to £300,000

Philip Hammond has today permanently abolished Stamp Duty for first-time buyers purchasing properties up to £300,000 and in high-priced areas on the first £300,000 of houses worth up to £500,000

The change kicked in at one minute past midnight today, says the Treasury briefing paper.

It says: “To ensure that all first-time buyers purchasing a house on Budget day benefit and to avoid disruption, the relief will take effect from Budget day (00:01 hours November 22nd).”

The paper says that in every region of England outside London, and in Wales and Northern Ireland, the first-time buyer will pay no Stamp Duty. Altogether, 80% of first-time buyers will be exempt from Stamp Duty.

In London, the average Stamp Duty bill for a first-time buyer will nearly halve, from £10,500 to £5,500.

The Chancellor estimates the move will cost £3.2bn over the next five and a half years.

Initial reaction from the industry has been mixed, with a number predicting that abolishing Stamp Duty for first-time buyers will simply push up prices at the lower end of the housing ladder.

 

 

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12 Comments

  1. AgentV

    Yaaaaaaaa!!!!!

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  2. AgentV

    At last a great result for the hardest hit group after the banking crisis….celebration time tonight!!!

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    1. wardy

      Rubbish. I was the hardest hit after the banking crisis.

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  3. Mark Connelly

    So the whole premise for loading second properties with an additional 3% to get the FTBs buying looks like a bust.

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  4. WillW72

    Good news. But “permanently”? Well until the next stamp duty change at least.

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  5. Thomas Flowers

    Stamp duty to be abolished immediately for first-time buyers purchasing properties worth up to £300,000
    In London and other expensive areas, the first £300,000 of the cost of a £500,000 purchase by first-time buyers will be exempt from stamp duty
    Does this mean that the additional £200k in expensive areas are taxed at 2%?
    Is it just me or are stamp duty charges nowadays about as transparent as a certain proper on-line only estate agent charges?

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  6. Trevor Kent

    Stamp duty reduction today a sop to the wealthy major builders who bankroll the Conservative party to the tune of millions.. To limit the reduction to first timers only is so cynical as to be almost laughable if one were not crying. To leave the upper rates  of duty  untouched on higher price transactions, second homes, foreign purchasers etc shows a complete denial of the catastrophic effect these rates have had on the market as a whole. Build 300,000 more houses a year indeed – when stamp duty purchase tax will stop the public buying them! Do politicians have any idea what they are doing? Let’s hope they all start trying to trade up (or down) themselves and see what the extra costs are, oh but I forgot, aren’t they subsidised by us when THEY move?    

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    1. new life

      Here Here Trevor unfortunatley not everyone is a property expert those in the industry can see through the smoke and mirrors the general public will be cheering jobs for the old school ties AINT never gonna change.

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  7. mattstephens38

    why just first time buyers – how many people are stuck and unable to get the next rung on the ladder because of stamp duty? Surely the fact people are having to have such large deposits and exorbitant multipliers to afford to buy is a bigger barrier than stamp duty anyway?

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  8. Kyle

    Out of London have reason to celebrate I suppose.

    Those trying to buy in London are getting a 5k discount up to 500k – hardly something that is going to invigorate the market.

    P*** poor yet again.

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  9. Quickbrit

    There’s no bad news here, unless you’re a jaded, lazy, good for nothing, estate agent with a bad attitude.

    This will stimulate the lower end of the market, thus having a knock on effect for other sellers further up the chain.

    If you think abolishing the stamp duty was ever going to happen, then it’s easy to see how you’re all going down the toilet.

    Fire away.

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    1. Ric

      There is no bad news for sure.

      I think the issue for me as a “jaded lazy good for at least something I hope estate agent” is; this will not make people sit up and think LET’S SELL, it simply does not help a first time seller, (Although I am happy it helps FTB’s, my son will be one soon I hope)

      We (my area) has no problem getting FTB’s to buy, regardless of the Stamp Duty. It may actually allow some of the FTB’s to even miss a rung of the ladder now, by having the extra £5k or so saved, to go towards the deposit etc, but for me it is trying to get people moving from the 3 bedroom semi’s to the 4 bedroom detached homes.

      With this I am not sure anything the Gov could do will create that, so… for me, I think we simply need a price correction narrowing the price gap between the rungs of the ladder.

      I don’t think any EA on here expected SDLT to be abolished completely, like you say crackers to think that would happen.

      The fix to this market, is unfortunately only a price correction, where first time sellers can reach the next rung of the ladder.

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