Good news for the home buyers in the UK!
The Stamp Duty Holiday has officially been extended until the end of June 2021. Initially, it is set to end on 31 March 2021.
This means that no stamp duty payable on purchases up to and/or on the first £500,000 until 30 June 2021.
After that, no stamp duty payable on purchases up to and/or on the first £250,000 until 30 September 2021.
From 1 October 2021 onwards, it returns to the usual level. No stamp duty payable on purchases up to and/or on the first £125,000.
This extension is a great relief to people who were stuck in the middle of the buying and selling process. This will also give extra time for those making their final decision.
What is Stamp Duty?
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is a tax paid if you buy a property or land over a certain price in England and Northern Ireland.
The stamp duty holiday was first introduced to help buyers who might have taken a financial hit because of Covid-19. It was also intended to boost a property market hit by lockdown.
The tax break had also increased house sales to their highest level since before the 2007 financial crisis according to recent analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank.
After an initial slump in sales between April and June 2020, the number of transactions increased from 132,090 in the second quarter to 225,870 in the third quarter and 316,300 by the end of quarter four - the highest level since 2007.
The think tank's research shows that stamp duty revenues actually rose by 27 per cent in Q3 compared to Q2, from £1.1billion to £1.35billion, and suggests they will rise again in Q4 given the continued increase in transactions.
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