UK asking prices drop as sellers race to beat stamp duty holiday

18 Jan 2021

Property asking prices in Britain have fallen as sellers rush to agree deals before the stamp duty holiday comes to an end.

Figures published out on Monday by Rightmove show advertised prices for flats and houses between 6 December and 9 January declined 0.9% on the previous month.

The Rightmove property website said these latest figures led its measure of annual growth to 3.3% from 6.6% a month earlier, Sky News reports.

Moreover, the number of buyers contacting agents rose 12% and sales agreed in January increased 9% on the same time last year, as per Rightmove’s figures.

Transactions plummeted earlier last year on the first Covid lockdown. However, demand rallied when the market re-opened and Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the stamp duty holiday.

Up until 31 March 2021, the threshold for paying stamp duty was temporarily increased from £125,000 to £500,000.

Rightmove said the fall in asking prices came "with some new sellers still hoping to tempt buyers and squeeze in a sale before the stamp duty holiday ends".

Nevertheless, the findings showed new buyers looked unlikely to make the deadline, with average purchasing times around four months.
Rightmove forecasts that with around 600,000 properties sold subject to contract in the UK, around 100,000 will be faced with an unexpected tax bill as they miss the stamp duty holiday deadline.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove's director of property data stated: "As we enter the new year and a new lockdown, the housing market remains open but is focused on the imminent end of the stamp duty holiday and on the challenges of the pandemic.
"These major influences on mover behaviour are clouding the 2021 outlook, but Rightmove's early January market-leading indicators of buyer demand and the number of actual sales being agreed are looking robust."