"Beyond the headline statistics, there’s a real split in brokers’ opinion about whether to extend and why. Was the tax relief programme a success?"
Twenty7Tec surveyed its 14,000 broker clients and asked: “If you were offered a three month extension to the stamp duty holiday, would you take it?”.
Of those who expressed an opinion, 66.43% said yes to the extension and 33.57% said no. One in two of all respondents said that they would ‘absolutely’ extend the scheme.
Of those who voted 'yes', common reasons included to relieve pressure on solicitors, to free up the backlog in removals firms, and to keep the the market buoyant for home buyers.
The 'no' group wanted a 'return to normal buying' and a stabilisation in the housing market. Brokers said that the stamp duty holiday was artificially pushing up prices, while others said that stamp duty should be 'changed for good or left alone'.
James Tucker, CEO and founder of Twenty7Tec, said: “The survey shows a significant majority of brokers voting yes to extending the stamp duty holiday. They know that the tax relief has kept them busy over recent months, and the vast majority are keen for it to remain that way.
“However, a good number of the respondents who were opposed to extending the relief named a need to return to normal workloads for themselves and solicitors as the main rationale.
“As of 1 July, the £250k-£500k relief disappears, and we believe that this will have some effect on the market. Looking at our figures, the proportion of ESIS mortgage documents that are produced for buy to let mortgages under £250k is higher than it is in the £250-£500k bracket. So the relief which remains available is more likely to be of interest to landlords, first time buyers and properties outside the South East.
“Equally, we understand that house prices have risen 9.5% since the tax holiday was introduced, although there are now reports that prices might drop by up to 5% if the stamp duty relief deadline is not extended.”
Niki Cooke, head of intermediaries at Twenty7Tec, added: “I’ve spoken to leaders at brokers and intermediaries over recent days on this topic. Beyond the headline statistics, there’s a real split in brokers’ opinion about whether to extend and why. Was the tax relief programme a success? Well it definitely kept the market moving in what were challenging circumstances. But brokers are now asking the biggest of questions: ‘Should we have stamp duty tax at all for average priced houses?’ and ‘How do we make sure that we treat people fairly who would otherwise miss the June 30 deadline?’ Those are the challenges for the Chancellor over coming days.”
