Fall throughs stay static as stamp duty deadline passes

Rightmove estimates that 1.3m buyers have benefitted from the stamp duty holidays across Great Britain since they were announced in July last year

The national average asking price of a home has increased by almost £16,000 since July last year.

Research by Rightmove among buyers expecting to benefit from the stamp duty holiday found only four per cent would abandon their plans to buy a property if they missed either today’s or the September deadline in England.

One in four said they would try to renegotiate the price with the seller; 13 per cent said they would plan to buy a cheaper home.

Rightmove’s director of property data Tim Bannister says: “Over the past few months the race for space has overtaken the race to beat the stamp duty deadline, with buyer demand and deals being done at higher levels than 2019. 

“We haven’t yet seen any significant increase in properties falling through so it looks like most are going ahead regardless, though inevitably there will be some properties coming back onto the market later this week and next week if a buyer and seller are unable to agree new terms if the buyer misses out on the maximum stamp duty savings.

“Activity is still strong despite this first phase of the stamp duty holiday coming to an end in England, as prior to the extension being announced there was already a huge group of buyers deciding to move regardless of the stamp duty holiday. 

“The high level of activity is despite the fact that buyers are now faced with prices almost £16,000 higher than July last year on average, with the number of sales agreed up across all regions this month so far compared to June 2019.”