The current stamp duty ‘holiday in England will be extended for three months, it’s been confirmed.
The current stamp duty rules mean buyers in England currently pay no tax on the first £500,000 of a property’s purchase price – a saving of £15,000 in some cases.*
Those rules will now remain in place until June 30.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the decision during today’s spring Budget, with a new exemption threshold of £250,000 in place from June 30 through to the end of September. Stamp duty will then, in October, return to the rates last seen before the ‘holiday’ was introduced in July 2020.*
That means buyers in England will pay:
|
Minimum purchase price |
Maximum purchase price |
Stamp duty rate |
|
£0 |
£125,000 |
0% |
|
£125,001 |
£250,000 |
2% |
|
£250,001 |
£925,000 |
5% |
|
£925,001 |
£1.5 million |
10% |
|
£1.5 million + |
12% |
First-time buyers will be exempt from stamp duty on the first £300,000 of a property’s purchase price, as they were before the ‘holiday’, while landlords and buyers of second homes will continue to pay a 3% surcharge on top of the standard rates.
A potential ‘cliff edge’ effect caused by the sudden end to the current stamp duty rules sparked concerns that some transactions would fall through at the last minute, or buyers would be left with a large stamp duty bill if they were unable to complete before March 31.
Now that the ‘holiday’ has been extended, even more homeowners will benefit from the savings, with the market expected to remain strong throughout the summer.
The Chancellor, meanwhile, confirmed that 95 per cent mortgage loans guaranteed by the government would be available from next month, on the purchase of properties up to the value of £600,000.
*Higher rates apply to additional properties.
