BUDGET: Philip Hammond has announced stamp duty relief for first-time buyers
Have you been looking for the perfect property to move into? Are you thinking of hiring a Lynchburg home inspector to check the quality of a potential house? Have you been saving for years and are ready to step onto the property ladder? Good news — Philip Hammond has announced stamp duty relief for first-time buyers and a distinction between international and domestic home buyers. Getting into homebuying can be daunting at first as there is a lot to take on, however, a professional Home Buyer’s Agent can help you with finding the right home for your needs, no matter where you want to look.
- Stamp duty relief for first-time buyers of shared ownership homes up to £500,000 backdated to last year when it was cut for other first-time buyers
- Foreign buyers: 1% stamp duty surcharge on non-residents buying property in England and Northern Ireland.
CEO of When You Move, Simon Bath comments ‘The introduction of a tax break for home sales to long-term tenants will serve as a much-needed push of confidence for the property market. Giving long-term tenants the opportunity to purchase their property of residence can reverse the homeownership decline and improve rental conditions as one-third of ‘Generation Rent’ may never be able to buy a property. This is good news for estate agents.
The Chancellor has gone further to help first-time buyers to get a foot on the ladder, with stamp duty relief for first-time buyers of shared ownership homes costing up to £500,000. With the average house price decreasing around the nation, this is a step in the right direction. The Chancellor, however, has once again left older homeowners out of the announcement. Releasing them from the burden of stamp duty would have given them an incentive to move and generate confidence back into the market.
Furthermore, the stamp duty increase of 1% for homebuyers who do not pay tax in Britain, has the potential to work to the advantage and the disadvantage of the property market. With such high levels of property investment coming from East Asia in regions such as Birmingham, Liverpool, and London, this could work to the detriment of the market. Although Foreign Direct Investment is essential and valued, we cannot let this work to the disadvantage of potential domestic homebuyers, as they cannot compete. Therefore, the increase in stamp duty for foreign investors will help first-time buyers and second steppers to penetrate the market in a less competitive climate. In the US, however, the market favours property investors with the likes of the 1031 tax exchange in place. This can allow investors to jump on potential property investment opportunities that could possibly snub domestic buyers. If one is looking to buy property and take advantage of this, they can talk with their Lynchburg real estate agents to see if it can be done.
The announcement confirmed that the government is lifting the cap on the amount of money local authorities are able to borrow to build housing. Giving the power back to local councils to build social housing in their regions has the potential to provide the infrastructure which the local economies can benefit from.
It was disappointing to see that no plans were put in place to address low transaction levels, which is not just bad for the property industry but even worse for the wider economy.’