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First-time Buyers

Stamp Duty cut to zero on homes up to £500,000

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
27/02/2024

The Chancellor has announced that purchasers of properties up to £500,000 will pay no Stamp Duty, meaning nine in 10 buyers will be completely exempt from the tax

The government will cut stamp duty on all transactions up to £500,000 as a temporary measure until 31st March 2021.

The cut will take effect immediately said the Chancellor to ‘capitalise the housing market and boost jobs’.

Rishi Sunak said that the average Stamp Duty bill will fall by £4,500 as a result of the measure and nine out of 10 people will pay no Stamp Duty at all.

He told the House of Commons in his Summer Statement: “Property transactions fell by 50% in May. House prices have fallen for first time in eight years and uncertainty abounds in the market.

“A market that we need to be thriving.”

Richard Donnell, research and insight director at Zoopla, said the benefits of the measure would be seen immediately: “In London and the South East, home to more expensive properties, homebuyers can save up to £14,999 overnight.

“The Government will expect the change to stimulate more housing sales over the second half of the year and that savings made by buyers will be reinvested in home improvements, white goods and furniture, rather than bidding up the cost of housing.”

Andrew Southern, chairman of property developer Southern Grove, added: “This intervention is bold enough to put a rocket under sales volumes as the UK enters the recovery phase.

“It also opens the door to rethinking stamp duty entirely and shifting to alternative regimes in the future such as an annual property tax, which works well in the US and discourages those reluctant to downsize from living alone in large properties and strangling supply.”