Sunak confirms stamp duty holiday to end gradually

March 8, 2021 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

Rishi Sunak has used his Budget to clarify that the stamp duty threshold will not return to its normal level next month as originally planned, but will instead be lowered gradually during the summer and early autumn.

The ‘holiday’ on paying stamp duty on property purchases is set to remain in place until late June, rather than ending at the start of April. After that, a gradual approach to restoring it to normal will be applied from July until the close of September, rather than a sudden one. Sunak stated that this would see the threshold initially lowered to £250,000, before returning to its standard level of £125,000 starting on 1st October.

In his Budget speech, Sunak added that this move was being made in recognition of the fact that the housing and mortgage sectors had been swamped with transactions and would not be able to get all of them completed before the original deadline.

This is supported by research from Rightmove, which indicated that around 100,000 homebuyers were likely to find themselves in that position. For this reason, the idea of extending the holiday was backed by MPs from all parties.

Speaking to Financial Reporter, https://www.beaconfinancialtraining.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cemap-online-and-classroom-training-uk.jpget Financial Solutions CEO Paresh Raja said:

“Extending the stamp duty holiday is exactly what the property market needs. The appetite among buyers remains strong, and it makes sense for the Government to build on this momentum through targeted tax reliefs.”

This will give advisors valuable time to complete deals once they have completed their CeMAP courses.