Stamp Duty - will the new chancellor abolish it?

Celes

Anyone want to join me in speculation as to whether the new chancellor will get rid of stamp duty under £500k. Or a variation of that. Budget day is 11th march I believe.

So wish he would, as selfishly would help me a massive deal. I'm borderline on when my completion date will be - either before or just about budget day if things over-run.

The promise was taken out of the election manifesto and they have instead talked about stamp duty on foreign buyers. And if the market is upturning as it seems, then maybe no incentive for them to make the housing market flow again.

Vestra

Nobody can say for certain until the budget, however I suspect we will see it notched down a bit with immediate effect.

Thrugelmir

Reform was promised. Perhaps there'll be a levy on the seller instead. Likewise an increase in stamp duty rates on foreign buyers. To compensate for the lost revenue.

One impact of the mooted change would be to make buying a property in Scotland more expensive than England and Wales.

davidmcn

Thrugelmir wrote: »

One impact of the mooted change would be to make buying a property in Scotland more expensive than England[STRIKE] and Wales[/STRIKE].

Welsh tax is also devolved now.

LBTT in Scotland is already a bit more than SDLT at higher price levels (or for buying additional properties). Suspect the Scottish/Welsh governments might opt to bring LBTT/LTT more into alignment with SDLT rather than have a huge disparity.

Celes

I'm just debating pleading with my new build developer to let the completion date slide by two weeks. Just in case there is a bonus.

Shouldn't affect them as they have their financial year at the end of Jan I understand so they have just had a manic period of signing people up. So less pressure for me, unless I'm missing something about how they operate.

jimmyjammy001

Depends if you are a seller or buyer will depend on who it benefits, if it is abolished, then sellers/the market will put house prices up by that amount along with anything that benefits the housing market, someone else has to pay more, just look at the help to buy scheme and how the prices of new builds have gone up as people can borrow more, hopefully that gets abolished and the builders will have to lower new build prices in order to sell them.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

jimmyjammy001 wrote: »

just look at the help to buy scheme and how the prices of new builds have gone up as people can borrow more, hopefully that gets abolished and the builders will have to lower new build prices in order to sell them.

It's not getting abolished. The current scheme ends in April 2021 and is replaced by a modified version. The HTB scheme will still exist, but will be limited to FTBs and regional price caps will be introduced.

The below table is as announced in the October 2018 budget, but not sure if it's provisional or final. I would expect there to be intense lobbying going on behind the scenes to move the caps upwards.



For instance, if an HTB price cap of around 225-230k comes in in the north, developers will struggle to sell these kind of properties at the prices they currently fetch.

Flix21

davidmcn wrote: »

Welsh tax is also devolved now.

LBTT in Scotland is already a bit more than SDLT at higher price levels (or for buying additional properties). Suspect the Scottish/Welsh governments might opt to bring LBTT/LTT more into alignment with SDLT rather than have a huge disparity.

If England does change the stamp duty, surely the Scottish government would have to reduce LBTT? I mean I know they wouldn’t want to, but the disparities would be huge.

One of the reasons I’m put off moving, because the cost of LBTT is so huge. I know others who are the same.

davidmcn

Flix21 wrote: »

If England does change the stamp duty, surely the Scottish government would have to reduce LBTT? I mean I know they wouldn’t want to, but the disparities would be huge.

They wouldn't have to - there's not much point in devolution if the devolved governments just follow what Westminster does. I suppose it would lead to odd effects for buyers around say Gretna or Chepstow, but otherwise people aren't generally choosing which country to buy in depending on tax rates. But politically it may be hard to justify.

RelievedSheff

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser wrote: »

It's not getting abolished. The current scheme ends in April 2021 and is replaced by a modified version. The HTB scheme will still exist, but will be limited to FTBs and regional price caps will be introduced.

The below table is as announced in the October 2018 budget, but not sure if it's provisional or final. I would expect there to be intense lobbying going on behind the scenes to move the caps upwards.



For instance, if an HTB price cap of around 225-230k comes in in the north, developers will struggle to sell these kind of properties at the prices they currently fetch.

Contrary to what some people believe not everyone uses help to buy to buy a new build.

Recent surveys have also indicated that the vast majority of people who have used the help to buy scheme to buy a new build didn't need to do so.

I personally don't see that the amended help to buy scheme will have any impact on new build prices.

Flix21

davidmcn wrote: »

They wouldn't have to - there's not much point in devolution if the devolved governments just follow what Westminster does. I suppose it would lead to odd effects for buyers around say Gretna or Chepstow, but otherwise people aren't generally choosing which country to buy in depending on tax rates. But politically it may be hard to justify.

For first time buyers or those moving cities, I suppose they may have no choice.

But for those of us looking to upsize to a 2nd property, you have to consider whether it’s worth it. The stamp duty will be between 23300 - 33000k within the price range we’re looking at. It’s considerably lower on the same value properties in England.
So I’ve been put off moving to be honest. As have other people I know.