Soaring house prices wipe out stamp duty savings

House price increases in the wake of the COVID pandemic have outstripped stamp duty holiday savings almost 30 times over. In July 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak raised the nil-rate stamp duty band from £125,000 to £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland, meaning that buyers who completed sales by June 30 2021 saved a maximum of £15,000. After this date, the holiday tapered to £250,000 until Sept 30. However, the incentive to transact before the deadline helped to push house prices up far beyond the amount that buyers could save in tax. in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, average house prices rose 18% in the 12-month period after the stamp duty holiday was introduced. The average home is now worth £20,590 more than a year ago, the Office for National Statistics found. In two-thirds of English council areas, house price rises in the year to the end of July were at least triple the average stamp duty holiday savings in each area under the £500,000 nil-rate band. In 60 local authorities, price rises in the 12 months after the stamp duty holiday was introduced were more than 20 times the average stamp duty savings under the tapered £250,000 nil rate band. The areas where house price increases eclipsed stamp duty savings to the most extreme degree were concentrated in the North and Midlands. 

The Daily Telegraph (01/10/2021)