The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has announced an end date for the cuts to Stamp Duty brought in by the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, in September’s ‘mini-budget’. In his Autumn Statement aimed at addressing the fiscal black hole in public finances, the Chancellor defended ending the cut in 2025 by stating that this will create “an incentive to support the housing market and all the jobs associated with it by boosting transactions during the period the economy most needs it.”
The cuts announced in September provided that the lowest threshold at which buyers started paying Stamp Duty was raised from £125,000 to £250,000. For first-time buyers, the threshold at which Stamp Duty became payable was increased from £300,000 to £425,000, and the value of the property on which they could claim relief was increased from £500,000 to £625,000. These cuts will now be reversed on March 31st, 2025.
This announcement comes as the Office for Budget Responsibility expects housing activity to slow over the next two years, with house prices also being estimated to fall 9% by the end of 2024.
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