"Whilst it’s great news that Labour will keep the current threshold in place with respect to first-time buyer stamp duty relief, it’s fair to say that this segment of the market was hoping for a great deal more from the new Government"
- Adam Day - eXp UK
The latest market insight from eXp UK, the platform for personal estate agents, has suggested which areas of the nation’s housing market could be set to suffer most when the current stamp duty relief offered to first-time buyers comes to an end from April next year.
eXp UK analysed the latest data on stamp duty receipts for residential property transactions across England, looking at which areas were home to the highest percentage of receipts attributed to first-time buyers.
First-time buyers currently pay no stamp duty on homes priced up to £425,000 and while Labour have committed to keeping this rate of stamp duty relief fixed for the time being, the party has made no commitment to extending it beyond the deadline that falls at the end of March 2025.
The previous threshold for first-time buyer stamp duty relief sat at £300,000, meaning that the areas of the market most reliant on FTB activity could be hit hardest should no extension be made, as first-time buyers struggle to find a stamp duty free purchase, resulting in a reduction in demand and potentially property values.
The analysis from eXp UK shows that on an annual basis, first-time buyers accounted for 19.1% of all homes sold across England.
This climbed to as high as 38.5% across both Stevenage and Barking and Dagenham, making them the busiest housing markets in the nation when it comes to first-time buyer activity.
Harlow and Newham also ranked high, with 37.5% of all transactions coming via first-time buyers, with Watford also making the top five where 36.8% of all sales were to FTBs.
Other areas to feature in the top 10 included Bexley (36.6%), Dartford (36%), Thurrock (35.7%), Crawley, Slough and Bristol (35.3%).
However, there were no less than a further seven local authorities where first-time buyers accounted for a third or more of all transactions, with another 38 seeing them account for a quarter of more of all market activity.
Head of eXp UK, Adam Day, commented: “Whilst it’s great news that Labour will keep the current threshold in place with respect to first-time buyer stamp duty relief, it’s fair to say that this segment of the market was hoping for a great deal more from the new Government.
"They remain the hardest pressed when it comes to climbing the property ladder and it certainly looks as though come next April, things will get that little bit harder when the stamp duty free threshold returns to £300,000.
"For the areas of the market most reliant on first-time buyer activity, this could prove particularly problematic, as the likelihood is that buyer demand levels will fall and this could inevitably cause house prices to do the same.
"Fingers crossed that our new Government realises the importance of helping first-time buyers before the current deadline expires and introduces either an extension or additional initiatives to help curb the current high cost of buying a first home.”
