Following Rishi Sunak’s spring budget announcement, the stamp duty holiday will now be extended to 30 June 2021 and a 5% mortgage scheme will be re-introduced next month.
Dan Gooding of West Bridgford Estate, Rex Gooding said: “Following the initial government announcement to introduce a stamp duty holiday, the market saw house hunters relieved of costs and induced a mini housing boom as sellers were eager to take advantage and complete transactions in time.
“The Chancellor initially set the holiday, which extended to properties under £500,000, to end on 31 March 2021 but has announced the deadline will now be extended to 30 June with the nil-rate then lowered to £250,000 until the end of September. We’re therefore expecting to see a high number of properties listed over the coming weeks and offers placed in very short time periods to really make the most of the extension ending now in September”.
A government-backed 5% mortgage scheme will also be re-introduced to help current homeowners as well as first-time buyers looking to purchase a house for up to £600,000. The initiative will be available from April 2021 and has been designed to help “generation rent” become “generation buy”.
Dan added: “With the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 over the last 12 months, the property market witnessed lenders withdrawing their 95% mortgage offerings and demanding deposits of 10 – 15%, with much higher interest rates.
“We’re starting to see these rates dropping back to normal levels again and with the new government scheme, we hope to see more first-time buyers coming through the door and getting their foot onto the property ladder as well as assisting current home owners move up the ladder due to their current homes being no longer suitable because of new factors like working from home.”
To find out more about Rex Gooding or speak to one of the local property experts, please visit www.rexgooding.com or call 01159 455 553.
