"It was widely expected that the government would extend the current stamp duty relief threshold for first-time buyers at the very least, so many will be understandably disappointed that this wasn’t the case"
- Richard Merrett - Alexander Hall
Mortgage adviser, Alexander Hall, has revealed that first-time buyers across 31% of local authorities in England are set to see the cost of purchasing a first home increase as of April next year, when the deadline expires on current Stamp Duty Land Tax relief thresholds.
In last week’s Autumn Statement, the government failed to extend current stamp duty relief thresholds for first-time buyers. As a result, first-time buyers will pay SDLT on purchases over £300,000 from April 2025 instead of £425,000 as it currently stands.
An analysis was made of current market data on the average price paid by first-time buyers across every local authority in England to reveal just what this means for the market and how many first-time buyers could be set to see an increase in the cost of purchasing a home.
The research shows the majority of first-time buyers are likely to be unaffected. In fact, the current average first-time buyer house price sits below £300,000 in no less than 68% (202) of local authorities in England, meaning that even when the threshold reverts back to this price in April next year, the average first-time buyer will still benefit from a stamp duty free purchase on their first home.
However, there are currently 68 local authorities across England - 23% of the market - where the average price paid by a first-time buyer currently sits between £300,000 and £425,000, meaning that whilst the average FTB currently pays no stamp duty, they will start doing so from April 2025.
Whilst some areas, such as Adur, Stratford-upon-Avon and Cherwell, will see SDLT increase from nothing to less than £100, this climbs to almost £6,000 in areas such as Redbridge, Cambridge and Newham.
What’s more, current SDLT relief only applies to purchases of first homes up to £625,000 and from April next year this ceiling will reduce to £500,000.
As a result, there are four local authorities in England - Hackney, Richmond, Wandsworth and Kingston - where first-time buyers currently benefit from a degree of stamp duty relief due to the average house price sitting between £500,000 and £625,000.
As of next April, the average buyer in these London boroughs will no longer qualify for any SDLT relief, meaning the cost of stamp duty is set to climb by £11,250.
It’s also important to note that there are currently six local authorities where the average first-time buyer house price exceeds the current stamp duty relief limit of £625,000 - Westminster, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, the City of London and Hammersmith and Fulham.
Whilst this will remain the case in April of next year, FTBs in these areas will still see an increase of £2,500 in the cost of SDLT due to changes for existing homebuyers.
As a result, the average first-time buyer across 93 local authorities is set to see an increase in SDLT paid when purchasing, which equates to 31% of the total market in England.
MD of Alexander Hall, Richard Merrett, commented: “It was widely expected that the government would extend the current stamp duty relief threshold for first-time buyers at the very least, so many will be understandably disappointed that this wasn’t the case.
"However, the good news is that across the vast majority of local authorities, the average price paid by a first-time buyer still falls below the £300,000 threshold, meaning that as of April next year, they could still benefit from a stamp duty free first home purchase.
"What’s more, first-time buyers are currently benefiting from a more favourable mortgage market landscape where we have seen lots of focussed innovations from lenders specifically for the FTB market, and, with further interest rate cuts forecast, they should continue to see an increased level of mortgage affordability.
"Getting a whole of market view is the best way to ensure that they secure the best mortgage deal possible and, in doing so, it could well mitigate the increased cost of stamp duty with the money they save on their monthly mortgage repayments.”
