Stamp Duty Reform – The Facts | Bradleys Estate Agents | Property for sale in Devon, Cornwall & Somerset

Stamp Duty Reform – The Facts

- Fri 05 Dec 2014

The Chancellor has announced as part of his Autumn Statement that he has revised the structure and thresholds of stamp duty to deliver a fairer and more efficient system which will be of vast benefit to 98% of property buyers. The main points are that the tax is much more smoothly graduated as well as costing significantly less on transactions below £937,000.

The benefits will be to make it much easier to buy property in the lower and middle ranges of the market whilst the only losers are where the tax paid is on transactions above £937,000 where the buyers can arguably afford more to subsidise those who are struggling to get on to the ladder at the bottom!

The new scales of Stamp Duty are as follow:

£ 0 - £125,000 Zero percent
£125,001 - £250,000 two percent
£250,001 - £925,000 five percent
£925,001 - £1,500,000 ten percent
Above £1,500,000 twelve percent

By removing the slab sided effect of the tax and making it a more gradual effect by only charging the higher amounts on the difference above each banding, the dead areas of valuation have been brought back to life. Previously everyone knew that nobody would pay £260,000 for a property because of the huge change in tax between 250K and 260K. That normally meant that those properties that should have been worth just over 250K never realised their true value. Now with the graduated system the tax will no longer create barriers.

This is extremely good news for the market and the economy in general and will certainly encourage an increase in transactions. Those who were struggling to afford the additional costs of moving have just received a massive helping hand.

With Mortgages set to continue at their low levels for the foreseeable future and property prices remaining realistic there has never been such a good time to buy. If you find this blog helpful or know someone who would benefit from this information please feel free to share it with your friends.

Francis Marshall - Bradleys Managing Director

Francis Marshall
Bradleys Managing Director

Stamp Duty Reform – The Facts

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