"With the final countdown now upon us, we’re starting to see a degree of mass hysteria being generated around the stamp duty deadline and the plight of those buyers who fail to complete by 31st March"
- Colby Short - GetAgent7
Rightmove recently called for a small extension to current stamp duty relief thresholds in order to help buyers currently going through the process of purchasing the opportunity to complete without being hit by an SDLT increase.
And whilst estate agents often butt heads with the portal giant, not least over its policy of excessive price hikes, 86% of those surveyed by GetAgent agree that an extension should be granted.
When it comes to the current rush to beat next month’s deadline, 72% of agents have noted increased urgency from buyers to complete by 31st March.
Whilst most buyers have factored in a stamp duty increase into their financial planning, one in five (21%) have not, leaving themselves in potential financial turmoil should they miss next month’s deadline to complete.
The good news is that agents are forecasting a relatively minor fallout and, whilst 66% expect to see an increase in transactions falling through, 51% of these agents are only anticipating a minor increase in this respect.
It seems that the nation’s sellers remain largely unsympathetic to the potential plight of those who miss the current deadline, with 57% of agents noting that they are not reducing their asking price in order to offset the potential cost increase incurred by their buyers.
Whilst 66% of agents are also anticipating a post-deadline reduction in buyer demand, 45% of these again stated that they only expect it to be a temporary correction.
The outlook for the post-deadline property market? 47% of agents believe current market conditions to be well balanced between both buyer and seller.
“With the final countdown now upon us, we’re starting to see a degree of mass hysteria being generated around the stamp duty deadline and the plight of those buyers who fail to complete by 31st March," comments Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, "Whilst some will see an increase in the cost of their purchase, the upcoming changes are only set to impact a small proportion of the market and the one message that we’ve heard consistently from agents is that any fallout is expected to be minimal and short-lived.
He added, "Perhaps the most interesting takeaway is that many agents believe the market landscape remains largely balanced and so whilst we may have seen an increase in buyer activity levels in recent months, we’re yet to see the pendulum fully swing towards a seller's market.”
