In a bid to recharge the housing market, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that from today 8th July until 31st March next year, homebuyers won’t pay stamp duty on the first £500,000 of a property’s purchase price.

For first-time buyers in England or Northern Ireland buying a property valued up to £500,000, you currently don’t pay stamp duty on the first £300,000 of the property’s value and pay 5% on any portion between £300,001 and £500,000. This temporary change means that no one will pay any stamp duty when buying a main home worth up to £500,000.

For properties costing more than £500,000, the stamp duty bands are unchanged – so if you bought a £600,000 property for example, you’d pay £5,000 stamp duty (5% of the £100,000 above the threshold).

This is a welcome announcement that will hopefully give the industry a much needed boost, in turn providing a kickstart to the economy. If you were contemplating buying property prior to COVID 19 or are now considering doing so, we suggest making the most of this Stamp Duty holiday now and to bear in mind that as a result of this action, house prices might start to rise.

The Chancellor has said the average saving will be around £4,500, so for more information on what this could mean for you, get in touch with one of our mortgage advisors here at Asset Harbour today.

Use our updated calculator to see how much stamp duty you will pay – Click Here