Stamp duty holiday ending

Effects of the Stamp Duty Holiday Ending
As we all know the stamp duty holiday ended earlier on in the year. Before it came to an end there was a sudden rush to purchasing a home but since then, the property market has become a little dormant, this is according to new figures from Halifax.

The value of properties have declined by 0.1 per cent annually and currently prices seem to be making little change and on average are around £160,941.

However, when considering what happened in May, house prices have risen by 0.5 per cent which means the continued rise and fall of property prices remains erratic and unpredictable. This 0.5 per cent increase when compared to April was actually a 2.3 per cent decline.

Most property market reports have been significantly influenced by the stamp duty holiday coming to an end. The break meant that first time buyers didn’t have to pay stamp duty for properties that were valued under £250,000 before the end of March.

The amount of buyers that were seen in March meant that in April, when the stamp duty had to be paid again, the amount of sales declined by 18 per cent. Halifax predicts that without any support in a similar way to the holiday, this may mean that property prices will remain stagnant.

Martin Ellis, who is the chief economist at Halifax said, “We expect this situation to continue with prices likely to still be around today’s levels at the end of 2012 as the ongoing tough economic environment constrains the housing demand.

“Recent monthly house sales figures have clearly been affected by the ending of the stamp duty holiday for first time buyers in late March.”

Whilst this is bad news for first time buyers it is great for landlords who are still seeing an increased rate of people looking to rent and for the landlord industry as a whole, including landlords insurance companies who are seeing an increase in people renting out properties and purchasing cover.