Stamp duty holiday sees homebuyers save £3bn
All holidays must end eventually. Tomorrow marks the start of a return to the standard rate of stamp duty following 450 days of reductions in the tax which is now being blamed for further pricing first-time buyers out of the market.
Research by the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has found that in the almost-15 months since it was first launched, just shy of 500,000 homebuyers across England are set to have saved over £3bn in stamp duty under the scheme.
The firm analysed every property purchase to have completed across England since 8th July 2020 when the stamp duty holiday was first introduced and how much was saved in stamp duty, as well as the number of transactions to have paid no stamp duty at all.
The research shows that during the initial extended phase of the stamp duty holiday between 8th July 2020 and 30th June 2021, 482,292 homes were sold across England, with no stamp duty payable up to £500,000.
As a result, as many as 83% of these transactions (402,381) paid no stamp duty at all on their purchase and, in total, homebuyers saved a huge £2.85bn in stamp duty tax.
During the second phase of the stamp duty holiday extension, the price threshold at which no stamp duty was payable was reduced to £250,000.
However, of the 123,941 estimated transactions to have completed during this time, 45% of homebuyers (55,381) still paid no stamp duty on their purchase with a total of £224.8m thought to have been saved across the market as a whole.
In total, this means 76% of homebuyers (457,762) have paid no stamp duty as a result of the holiday, with a total saving to the tune of more than £3bn (£3,075,089,001).
SOURCE: Property Reporter