Every Stamp Duty cliff-edge fall-through costs an age...

New research from Propertymark suggests a typical fall through costs an agent £4,123.

The association says that if the stamp duty holiday - set to be extended by three months until late June - ends in a cliff edge at that time, many agents will suffer “a huge financial loss.”

The estimated cost of a fall through comes from a survey of Propertymark member agents - of which over 65 per cent believe fall throughs to already be a problem or a substantial problem.

In the last year, an average of 17 sales have not completed per estate agent branch; however this figure could rise as Propertymark forecasts over 325,000 households will miss the stamp duty deadline if it is not extended beyond March 31.

Failed property transactions also have a costly impact on the consumer, resulting in them losing £1,571 on average.

“We have continually called on government to rethink the timings of the stamp duty deadline and the recent speculation of an extension will be good news for the sector” explains Mark Hayward, chief policy advisor at Propertymark.

He continues: “However, extending the holiday until June will create another cliff edge and purely push back the increase in the number of failed sales as we approach the new deadline. We need government to consider a tapered end to the holiday so that buyers aren’t forced to pull out at the last minute and the property market can continue to thrive.”

Propertymark’s survey was relatively small - just 327 agent members.

N W
26 February 2021 17:51 PM

many buyers were influenced by the stamp duty deadline but perhaps pulled their move forward as a result (so its a bit of both). There would be many buyers trying to re negotiate if for any reason they didn't get it over the line and it was a delay due to the vendors (i have two Probate sales where this has been specifically written into the deal if probate is not granted in time - fortunately we covered our self even back in December with wording it if the dates on stamp duty were delayed). Most buyers over the past few months were expecting to have to pay stamp duty so they had factored that in but they may get a nice treat if it gets extended and they manage to complete by the new deadline (whatever that officially ends up being other than the leaks thus far). A new cliff edge though at the end of June makes no sense but hey, what do we know.....