‘Race' for buyers to get on the property ladder before stamp duty rises in April
Under the changes, from April 1, first-time buyers will pay no stamp duty up to £300,000 and 5% on any portion from £300,001 to £500,000. If the price is over £500,000, they must follow the rules for people who have bought a home before.
Up until March 31, first-time buyers pay no stamp duty up to £425,000 and 5% on any portion from £425,001 to £625,000. If the price is over £625,000, they cannot claim the relief.
First-time buyer Jenny Lianos, 32, recently completed on a one-bedroom flat in Chiswick, London.
She said: 'I put the offer in January, and since then it's been a race to complete ahead of the stamp duty deadline. I paid £525,000 for the property and knew from the outset that stamp duty could be a deal breaker.
'Completing the sale in March meant that I paid £5,000, however, if this had been pushed into April, I'd have had to pay £16,250.
'Frankly, that was over £11,000 I didn't have. It means there has been a huge amount of pressure on my solicitor and broker to get everything sorted.
'Thankfully everyone has been understanding of the situation, and I was able to get my keys in plenty of time.'
For Dan Barker, 29, a Lifetime Isa (Lisa) was crucial in helping him onto the property ladder.
He told how he used a Lisa from provider OneFamily to help buy his flat in Bristol in November last year.
Mr Barker started to save into a Lisa in 2019, saying his mother had encouraged him and his brothers to open accounts 'as it offers a 'free' 25% on anything you save up to £4,000 per year'.
Mr Barker, who grew up in Swansea and works in Bath, had set himself a deposit goal of £30,000 and went on to buy his flat for £280,000.
That price would still be under the new £300,000 stamp duty 'nil rate' threshold – although property values often increase over time and Mr Barker has also been upgrading his home since he bought it by carrying out renovations.
Mr Barker added: 'With the bonus and increase in value from the stock market combined, by the time I bought my flat the total value was £32,500 – so I'd received an extra £11,450.'
He added: 'I bought by myself which can make it really difficult to afford, but the extra money I received by investing into a Lisa made it possible.
'It wouldn't have happened otherwise, or I would've had to buy a property that required a lot more work or wouldn't have been able to get the location I've got. The extra bonus and growth allowed me to get exactly what I want.'
Mr Barker said he had also moved back in with his parents to make it easier to save.
He had previously been spending nearly £900 per month on rent and bills – 'so straight away I had almost an extra grand to put into savings every month'.
He added: 'If I hadn't moved home and invested into a Lisa, I wouldn't have been able to afford the property I've got now. And it would've probably taken me at least another three or four years to get on the property ladder.'
Mr Barker said renovations to his property have included stripping out the kitchen, re-plastering and installing new carpets.
He said: 'At the moment it's a bit of an empty shell, but it's all freshly painted and ready to add furniture into. There's been lots of high and lows with renovating that I didn't anticipate, so it's nice to have the extra support of the Lisa which has freed up some of my other savings to help with any unexpected expenses.'
He said that, regarding the stamp duty changes: 'I was aware that it was potentially only a temporary increase in the threshold, and so this did stay in my mind.
'It only added to the sense of time pressure as £300,000 was around what I was looking at. I wouldn't say it was my primary driver for buying when I did, but definitely a consideration.
'Had I put off buying, I may have been impacted by the change, so I'm glad I did (it) when I did.'
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