Are the stamp duty changes really boosting the housing market?

August 20, 2020 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

Since the changes to stamp duty charges were announced, this has been cited by those in the housing market as a key reason for the rise in activity. However, new research from Trussle disputes this claim.

The latest research by the internet mortgage advisor reveals that applications for mortgage loans among homebuyers with deposits above 10% are at the same level as they were before the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, the research also suggests that buyers with deposits lower than 10% are in danger of being frozen out of the housing market because there are not enough products aimed at them available from lenders.

Trussle indicated that its research showed the stamp duty changes had not led large deposit homebuyers to significantly raise their buying budgets, with first-time homebuyer budgets having risen by under 1% and next-time buyer budgets only going up by 4%.

Talking to Mortgage Strategy, Trussle’s Head of Mortgages, Miles Robinson, stated that many reports had pinpointed the raised stamp duty threshold as being responsible for the market spike, adding:

“While this is promising, our data suggests that actually the cut is having a minimal impact on buyers’ behaviour and we’re perhaps just seeing a level of pent up demand following the lockdown.”

The stamp duty changes saw the threshold for paying this charge lifted to £500,000 from £125,000 to try to spark the housing market into life.

Whatever the cause, the boom in the housing market will boost the mortgage sector too, with more people opting for CeMAP mortgage advisor training.