Urgent warning to home buyers in rush to beat stamp duty hike

Home buyers are scrambling to finalise property purchases before a rise in stamp duty set for April 1. This follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves' decision not to extend the stamp duty holiday initiated by the previous Conservative government.

The change will add thousands of pounds to the cost of completing a purchase, hitting first-time buyers especially hard. Property sales agreed over the past four weeks have risen by 19 percent compared to the same period in 2023, with buyer demand up by 25 percent, according to property portal Zoopla.

This surge is expected to continue into the early weeks of the new year. The urgency to buy now is so great that some property experts believe buyers will risk paying more than necessary just to secure and complete a purchase before the stamp duty increase.

The changes mean:

The net effect of these changes means that, for example, a first-time buyer purchasing a property at £425,000 who currently pays no stamp duty will be charged £6,250 from April 1, 2025. In parts of the country where average house prices are higher, there's a surge in young people trying to get on the property ladder. First-time buyers in London, looking to purchase an average priced house at £531,212, are set to be worst affected, having to find an additional £11,250 when the changes take effect.

Matt Thompson, head of sales at estate agency Chestertons, commented: "We are seeing more buyers entering the market which is not typical for this time of year... one reason for this is the change to stamp duty. This is driving first-time buyers to get on the property ladder before that deadline."

However, agents and mortgage brokers have warned that rushing to complete a property purchase when conditions are sub-optimal can