Recently released figures have shown that the level of property sales in February picked up. The data was released by HM Revenue and Customs, and showed that there was a 14 percent increase in completed property sales in February compared to the previous month. (more…)
Last year the Labour government announced that it was suspending stamp duty on the purchase of properties up to £175,000 in value. (more…)
Last year saw the government launch a stamp duty holiday for buyers that were purchasing property up to the value of £175,000. Previously the only properties that were exempt from stamp duty were those that were up to the value of £125,000. (more…)
Last year the government in the UK suspended stamp duty on properties between £125,000 and £175, 000 in value in the hope of helping to revive the struggling property market by increasing affordability for first time buyers. (more…)
The stamp duty holiday that was brought in by the UK government last year is set to come to an end at the end of this year, and as a result many potential property purchasers may need to move quickly in order to avoid having to pay a hefty amount of tax on the home that they purchase. (more…)
For the first time in many months, lenders are starting to compete for the business of first time home buyers. Just yesterday, Halifax announced a plan in which it would pay the stamp duty for first time home buyers. (more…)
Barratt Homes, a giant in the housing development sector, has recently launched a new incentive to try and boost the property market by offering to pay the stamp duty for buyers purchasing properties between £175,000 and £500,000. Properties under the value of £125,000 are exempt from stamp duty, and properties between £125,000 and £175,000 are exempt on a temporary basis, after the government introduced a twelve month suspension on stamp duty up to £175,000 recently to try and breathe life back into the housing market. (more…)
Over recent months industry officials, housing developers, and the government have been desperately looking at ways to breathe life back onto the housing market, after house sales plummeted to record lows and estate agents reported average property sales equating to less than one home per week. With a number of factors affecting the housing market in the UK industry officials have been left with the difficult task of working out just how the industry can be boosted. (more…)
Although house prices have been falling for almost a year in the UK many consumers are still unable to afford to purchase a home due to a variety of factors. Mortgages are in short supply at present, which is creating a problem. And whilst lenders have been cutting their interest rates recently the costs associated with mortgages, such as arrangement fees and deposit levels, are still very high, which is affecting affordability for many. On top of this lenders still have very tight lending criteria in place as a result of the effects of the global credit crunch, which has made it difficult for many to get their hands on an affordable mortgage. (more…)
Over recent months the number of property sales going through estate agents in the UK has plummeted, with estate agents reporting some of the lowest property sales figures in years. In fact, according to recent figures estate agents have only been averaging around five property sales per months each, which is the lowest in several decades. The government has been urged by industry officials to try and revive the housing market, but so far seems to have taken steps that have actually made the situation worse. (more…)