Stamp duty tax debate 'welcome'

Stamp duty tax debate ‘welcome’

As an attempt to help first-time home buyers to purchase homes and hopefully spawn movement in the market, the stamp duty for homes selling for less than £300,000 has been abolished. Already seen in England and Northern Ireland, Wales will see the change in early 2018. Though this move ultimately benefits the majority of first-time home buyers, mortgage lenders did not see a mad rush for properties after the announcement. However, it is predicted that, with the government trying to bolster the housing market, slightly more activity will be seen over the next two years.

Key Takeaways:

This is seen as a boon for first time buyers who typically do not buy large houses.
They advise that 95% owners will not see this tax and 80% will see some form of it.
The other addition is the 500,000 range, where they will only pay the stamp tax on that difference 200k from 300,000.

“New buyers purchasing a home of up to £300,000 no longer have to pay stamp duty owing to changes made in last month’s Budget.”