UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the temporary cancellation of the stamp duty on property purchases worth up to £500,000 until March 31, 2021. According to him, 9 out of 10 homebuyers in the UK will be exempt from the stamp duty.
The stamp duty is calculated depending on the property value, the purpose of the purchase and experience – whether it is the first time a person buys a house or not. Up until now, the first £125,000 spent on real estate were not subject to stamp duty, if it was the first purchase, the first 300 thousand were free of tax.
Subsequently, a progressive scale came into effect, reaching 12% for properties over £1.5 million.
After the announcement of Rishi Sunak, the average stamp duty on property is expected to fall by £4,500.
The decision was announced as part of the government strategy to support the UK real estate market, which is going through a severe crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences.
