SUNAK COULD EXTEND STAMP DUTY HOLIDAY
Hope for sales already started
RISHI Sunak may extend the stamp duty holiday to let people finalise house purchases.
More than 610,000 waiting on tenterhooks for completion fear they’ll have to fork out stamp duty when a tax holiday on house purchases ends on March 31.
But the Chancellor has ordered Treasury officials to look at ways to ensure those with deals are in the pipeline do not lose out.
Under the pandemic scheme, first-time buyers have been spared stamp duty on properties worth up to £500,000.
The policy, intended to end a freeze in the housing market, has meant not having to pay the taxman five to 12% of the purchase price, or £25,000 on a £500,000 family home.
This created a surge in home sales, with an average saving of £4,500, but has cost the Treasury £3.8billion in lost revenue so far. Mr Sunak is under pressure from MPs and property managers to extend the Covid holiday but is worried about the continuing loss of income.
The Treasury insists the tax break must come to an
end but the Chancellor
wants to ensure buyers enticed by the scheme are not penalised by a sudden cut-off.
Mark Hayward, of leading estate agents Propertymark, warned: “The March 31 stamp duty cliff edge could cause thousands of sales to fall at the final hurdle.”
Iain McKenzie, chief executive of the Guild of Property Professionals, said the Government should preserve the tax break for all those who have already started to buy.
He added: “Without that, the consequences could be devastating, undoing all the economic effects they... have been targeting.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “The Government keeps stamp duty under review and is closely monitoring the market.”