East of England agents ‘worst-hit’ if Stamp Duty threshold drops - research

Agents in the East of England could face the toughest task filling the void left by first-time buyer Stamp Duty relief should the new Labour Government decide not to keep the current threshold of £425,000 in place.

Labour has pledged to return the current first-time buyer Stamp Duty relief to £300,000 as planned from March 2025.

Research by GetAgent shows the move could dramatically reduce the number of homes available to first-time buyers.

GetAgent’s analysis of current market listings shows that across England, 66.5% of all homes listed for sale currently come in below the Stamp Duty free threshold of £425,000. However, just 45.6% are listed at £300,000 or less, meaning that should stamp duty relief revert back to this threshold, it would reduce available stock by 20.9%.

Estate agents in the East of England could face the toughest challenge should first-time buyer stamp duty relief return to purchases up to £300,000. Currently 66.8% of all homes listed for sale are priced at £425,000 or less, whilst just 41.1% of for sale stock sits at £300,000 or below, meaning that it would reduce stamp duty free stock availability for first-time buyers by 25.7%.

Agents in the South West (-24.9%), South East (-24%), West Midlands (-21.4%) and London (-19.1%) could also see a drop in first-time buyer market activity as they rank within the top five regions that would see the largest reduction in stamp duty free for sale stock at the £300,000 threshold.

Colby Short, chief executive of GetAgent, said:  “First-time buyers form a core part of market activity and Stamp Duty incentives are a big draw when looking to reduce the cost of purchasing. Therefore if the threshold returns to £300,000 it could see agents hit with a significant reduction in demand due to the stock they are able to offer and the number of FTBs it attracts.

“They can also be preferable to sellers and agents alike as they offer a chain-free purchase which can help transaction speed, certainty and of course, cash flow.

“The very best agents will likely be going through their databases now trying to get affected vendors onto the market and completed before any incentives are removed.”