First time buyers get a break. How does it affect you in Chiswick W4?
Chancellor Alistair Darling has doubled the threshold for stamp duty, for first time buyers only. The giveaway means residential property buyers will pay no tax for house purchases below £250,000.
Christian Harper of Chiswick estate agent OliverFinn: “There aren’t a huge amount of properties available in the Chiswick area for under £250,000 so whilst it will be a big help in some parts of the country, it will drive a firm wedge around the £250,000 property band in W4. The next price rung would normally be £265,000 – £275,000 so it will be harder for sellers to achieve their asking price in this band – try selling a flat for 260K to first time buyers".
Industry bodies argue this should have applied to all homebuyers as it could be difficult to police, but Harper disagrees: “It should be easy to implement in my view because the name of every first time buyer appears on the Land Registry. The Australian Government initiated a similar scheme ten years ago to give first time buyers a helping hand and it has proved to be a success.
Selling property in Chiswick, W4
Chancellor Alistair Darling has doubled the threshold for stamp duty, for first time buyers only. The giveaway means residential property buyers will pay no tax for house purchases below £250,000.
Christian Harper of Chiswick estate agent OliverFinn: “There aren’t a huge amount of properties available in the Chiswick area for under £250,000 so whilst it will be a big help in some parts of the country, it will drive a firm wedge around the £250,000 property band in W4. The next price rung would normally be £265,000 – £275,000 so it will be harder for sellers to achieve their asking price in this band – try selling a flat for 260K to first time buyers".
Industry bodies argue this should have applied to all homebuyers as it could be difficult to police, but Harper disagrees: “It should be easy to implement in my view because the name of every first time buyer appears on the Land Registry. The Australian Government initiated a similar scheme ten years ago to give first time buyers a helping hand and it has proved to be a success.
Selling property in Chiswick, W4
The change will be funded by a planned increase in stamp duty to 5% for properties costing more than £1m. However, this will not come in until April 2011, well after the election.
Currently, stamp duty for buyers of properties worth more than £500,000 is 4% of the purchase price. It is 1% for properties between £125,000 and £250,000. For properties between these brackets the stamp duty is 3%. On the whole this is not good news for anyone selling property in Chiswick says Harper: “Sellers may find it harder to get their price over 1m. It’s a ticking clock so if you are spending at this level, then do it by April 2011. You could also take a pragmatic view that if you’re looking in this price range, what’s another £10,000 in the big scheme of things?
In his Pre-Budget Report in December, the Chancellor decided not to extend the stamp duty holiday, returning it to the £125,000 limit. A move which some analysts claim has halted the recovery in the housing market.The Council of Mortgage Lenders has estimated that if the £250,000 threshold had existed in 2009, 92% of first-time buyers and 69% of movers would have been exempt.
Who qualifies?
The new rules state that in order to qualify for the stamp duty holiday:
•The purchaser - or all purchasers if buying jointly - must be buying their first home
•They cannot have previously owned another property anywhere in the world
•They must be buying somewhere that will be their only or their main home
•The completion date is on or after 25 March 2010 and 25 March 2012.
This the second major change to stamp duty in recent years. In order to kick-start an improvement in the tattered property market, the chancellor increased the stamp duty threshold from £125,000 to £175,000 in 2008.
Currently, stamp duty for buyers of properties worth more than £500,000 is 4% of the purchase price. It is 1% for properties between £125,000 and £250,000. For properties between these brackets the stamp duty is 3%. On the whole this is not good news for anyone selling property in Chiswick says Harper: “Sellers may find it harder to get their price over 1m. It’s a ticking clock so if you are spending at this level, then do it by April 2011. You could also take a pragmatic view that if you’re looking in this price range, what’s another £10,000 in the big scheme of things?
In his Pre-Budget Report in December, the Chancellor decided not to extend the stamp duty holiday, returning it to the £125,000 limit. A move which some analysts claim has halted the recovery in the housing market.The Council of Mortgage Lenders has estimated that if the £250,000 threshold had existed in 2009, 92% of first-time buyers and 69% of movers would have been exempt.
Who qualifies?
The new rules state that in order to qualify for the stamp duty holiday:
•The purchaser - or all purchasers if buying jointly - must be buying their first home
•They cannot have previously owned another property anywhere in the world
•They must be buying somewhere that will be their only or their main home
•The completion date is on or after 25 March 2010 and 25 March 2012.
This the second major change to stamp duty in recent years. In order to kick-start an improvement in the tattered property market, the chancellor increased the stamp duty threshold from £125,000 to £175,000 in 2008.
