{"id":10860,"date":"2024-12-16T10:04:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T10:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/?p=10860"},"modified":"2024-12-16T10:04:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T10:04:31","slug":"the-race-is-on-to-beat-stamp-duty-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/the-race-is-on-to-beat-stamp-duty-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Race is On to Beat Stamp Duty Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Changes to Stamp Duty come into force next year. Read on to learn how much they’ll cost you and how to deal with them effectively.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

December is traditionally a quiet month in the property market – but that’s not proving to be the case this year.<\/p>\n

Buyer demand is up with the property portal Rightmove suggesting first-time buyers (FTBs) are leading the charge*.<\/p>\n

So why is there so much momentum when buyers and sellers typically ease off in the run-up to Christmas?<\/p>\n

As many industry experts predicted in the aftermath of the Autumn Budget, impending changes to Stamp Duty have generated a flurry of activity.<\/p>\n

Stamp Duty Changes<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Cast your mind back to September 2022, and you may recall that Kwasi Kwarteng announced Stamp Duty cuts as part of the now infamous ‘Mini-Budget’.<\/p>\n

When Jeremy Hunt took over as Chancellor shortly afterwards, he added a sunset clause that meant the Stamp Duty cuts would end on March 31, 2025.<\/p>\n

And as the new Labour Government made no mention of extending the concessions in the Autumn Budget, they’ll expire next year.<\/p>\n

As a result, from April 1, 2025, Stamp Duty thresholds will return to what they were a few years ago.<\/p>\n

(In a separate Autumn Budget measure, the second home surcharge that landlords and property investors pay on top of Stamp Duty was hiked, without notice, from 3% to 5%.)<\/p>\n

What you’ll pay<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

For FTBs in England and Northern Ireland, the threshold at which they start paying Stamp Duty will drop from \u00a3425,000 to \u00a3300,000.<\/p>\n

First-Time Buyers Relief will also change and only apply to purchases of first homes up to \u00a3500,000 (currently, it’s \u00a3625,000).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, for home-movers, the threshold will go from \u00a3250,000 back to \u00a3125,000.<\/p>\n

The Stamp Duty rates will then apply as follows:<\/p>\n