Stamp duty holiday extension confirmed

The government has extended the stamp duty holiday by three months until June 30th, while buyers will be able to take advantage of a smaller amount of tax relief until the end of September.

Stamp duty will continue to be suspended on the first £500,000 of all purchases in England and Northern Ireland until June.

Between July and September 30th the nil band rate of stamp duty will be set at £250,000, double the standard level of £125,000.

Brian Murphy, head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau, said: “It offers some much-needed latitude to the industry as conveyancers have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of transactions, and so the extension should help ease the current bottleneck the market is experiencing.”

Sean Randall, partner, at tax, accounting and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg said: “Buyers due to complete between 1 April and 30 June will breathe a sigh of relief; estate agents, surveyors and mortgage brokers will rub their hands with glee; and conveyancers, exhausted by the pressure to complete before 1 April, will look ahead with dread.”

The Chancellor’s announcement comes despite calls for a stamp duty extension to only apply for people already in the process of buying a house.

Indeed, there are fears Rishi Sunak’s announcement will only serve to move the cliff-end of the stamp duty relief deadline to the end of June, and to a lesser extent September.

Andy Sommerville, director of Search Acumen, said: “The Chancellor’s much-anticipated move simply defers rather than dodges the cliff-edge by putting it off until June.”

And Paul Stockwell, chief commercial officer at Gatehouse Bank, said: “Moving the deadline to the end of June could simply create another cliff edge, particularly as it is likely the extension will entice even more people to the market this spring in the hope they can benefit from the discount.”