The stamp duty holiday, introduced in July 2020, raised the tax threshold to £500,000, providing savings for homebuyers of up to £15,000.
Budget 21: In his Spring Budget announcement for 2021, Chancellor Rishi Sunak (pictured) has confirmed that the stamp duty holiday will be extended until 30 June.
The stamp duty holiday, introduced in July 2020, raised the tax threshold to £500,000, providing savings for homebuyers of up to £15,000.
The industry has continuously drawn attention to the danger of a cliff-edge when the measure comes to an end on 31 March 2021, with backlogs across the property sector causing many transactions to face falling through if unable to complete in time.
In the lead up to the Budget various suggested measures were rumoured, including a six-week extension only for those already in the homebuying process, and a three month extension of the scheme as it stands now.
In order to allow those transactions facing collapse due to the backlogs, the holiday up to £500,000 will remain in place until 30 June.
Then, in order to "smooth the transition back to normal", Sunak revealed that the threshold would be reduced to £250,000 until the end of September, only returning to the usual levelof £125,000 from 1 October.
Sunak said: "The cut in stamp duty has helped hundreds of thousands of people in buying a home.
"Due to the sheer volume of transactions, many new purchases won't complete in time for the end of March."
