Barrows and Forrester surveyed over 2,000 UK homebuyers to have purchased in the last six months to see how the current stamp duty holiday had impacted their purchase.
While high demand has caused house prices to climb substantially over the last year, many buyers believe they’ve still saved money on their purchase as a result of the tax reprieve despite some sellers overpricing to take advantage.
When asked if they thought they had paid a higher asking price to secure their home due to saving on stamp duty, 81% of respondents believed they hadn’t, although nearly one in five did think their seller had ramped up their asking price due to the tax-saving they would make.
Another downside of such heightened buyer demand has been the huge backlog of transactions waiting to complete, delaying selling times considerably. But despite these delays, Barrows and Forrester found that 63% of buyers felt the stamp duty saving made on their purchase was well worth the longer transaction time.
What’s more, the majority remain confident in the housing market going forward, despite many doomsayers predicting a market collapse when the stamp duty holiday finally does come to an end.
81% of buyers are confident that their home will not see a reduction in value when the final deadline arrives at the end of September.
James Forrester, Managing Director of Barrows and Forrester, commented: “The stamp duty holiday has certainly helped kick start the market and we’ve seen an overwhelming level of buyer demand and strong house price growth pretty much since it was introduced.
"Of course, there have been some teething issues such as the lengthy increases to selling times but overall, buyers have benefited and the majority feel they have paid a fair price and made a saving at the same time.
"This positive market sentiment looks set to remain beyond the final deadline and while some have been quick to call the demise of the market, we should see a strong level of market activity and house price growth beyond the end of September and well into the new year.”
