Looming deadline for stamp duty savings pushes up enquiries

A new report from moneysupermarket.com suggests that the nearing end to the stamp duty holiday on properties under £175,000 has helped increase interest in such houses over the last three months.

The number of homeowners looking to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday has increased by nearly 10% since September, according to the report.

In the last three months, searches on moneysupermarket.com for mortgages on properties under £175,000 have increased by nine per cent. The comparison site argues that since over half of all searches on the site are for properties under £175,000, the end of the stamp duty holiday will have a severe impact to the market, with most of these likely to be first time buyers.

Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgages channel manager at moneysupermarket.com, said:

“Thousands of house buyers are trying to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday before it is due to end. It is encouraging to see an increase in homeowners looking for this band of property, but the reality is that most properties are well above the £175,000 price tag.”

“Most buyers looking at this end of the housing market are likely to be first-time purchasers; when the stamp duty benchmark is pushed back to £125,000, and factoring in the huge cash deposit required by the Banks, stepping on to the housing ladder is going to be an impossible leap for many. The average house price in all regions is over £125,000, so this benchmark is exceedingly low.”