A leading agency says the stamp duty holiday is not a big influence on the current housing market frenzy - and it hasn’t been for months.
Getting on the property ladder is now the most influential factor for moving, representing 25 per cent of buyers' motivations according to the Leaders Romans Group.
Coming in as the second and third most popular reasons for moving were to get a bigger home and a change in relationship, each of which were cited by nearly 20 per cent of respondents to a research study.
The agency claims the main reason for people moving - ‘getting on the property ladder’ - was unaffected by the stamp duty holiday this year.
Kevin Shaw, group managing director of residential sales at LRG, comments: “It’s great to see that even in a challenging year, first time buyers are still getting onto the property ladder. So far this year we have seen increased activity in the £150,000 to £350,000 price range, particularly freehold, where there have been a number of cases of multiple offers from different buyers.
“An increase in first-time buyer registrations is also extremely positive for the market as a whole, as their presence and ability to buy enables many more people who want to sell and move up the ladder the chance to do so by selling to a first-time buyer.”
With many more people having spent the majority of the last year at home due to pandemic restrictions, fewer than five per cent of those surveyed said that ‘new location for job’ was a prominent reason for moving home.
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The stamp duty holiday has been a red herring for some time now, I completely agree. Shortage of stock is fuelling the growth in house prices, increased demand as a result of different decisions now being taken by people as a side effect of the implications of the pandemic and how people are now setting themselves up to work are also contributing.
Don't be so confident and forgetful. If the Gov't reinstates SDLT as before and buyers are faced with an extra tax of £, 5,000, £10,000, £15,000 don't hold out hope for a busy market and fantastic economy. This horrendous tax should never come back as before.
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