RISHI Sunak is set to cut stamp duty for homes up to £500k from TOMORROW after fears that delaying it will see the housing market stall for months.
HOAR revealed exclusively last weekend that a stamp duty holiday was on the cards for six months to help boost sales – and was expected from the Autumn.
The temporary measure would remove tax on the purchase of homes to target those most in need of help following the coronavirus crisis.
But he has been forced to bring forward the move because of fears the housing market would freeze while buyers waited for it to come in the autumn.
A source told HOAR last night that leaks of the plan had forced his hand and the stamp duty holiday will take effect immediately tomorrow.
Currently home buyers don’t pay any stamp duty on the first £125,000 of homes, then two per cent of the value of the home up to £250,000 and five per cent on the next £675,000.
First time buyers are already exempt from stamp duty up to £300,000 outside London and £450,000 in London.
The move will enable some homes at the lower end of the London housing market to be taken out of stamp duty but crucially would take out hundreds of thousands of properties in the crucial ‘Blue Wall’ seats that handed Boris Johnson his huge election win last year.
One source familiar with the proposal said: “A six-month stamp duty holiday would save people lots of money, is very Thatcherite and would please Tory backbenchers.”
During the lockdown, Britons were told not to move house.
Under the Health Protection Regulations 2020, potential buyers can now legally be shown around homes and visit estate agents in England.
Speculative viewings where neither party is serious about the sale, are “seriously discouraged”.
It comes as property prices are expected to fall due to the coronavirus disruption.
