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Blog March 10, 2021
     

Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula Home Buyers £1,142,574 Windfall as Stamp Duty Holiday Stretched

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced two initiatives to keep the Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula property market firing on all cylinders into 2021.

 

Firstly, the £500,000 zero-rate Stamp Duty band has been extended to the 30th June 2021. After then it will phase down to £250,000 for an additional three months, returning to the pre-pandemic levels on the 1st October 2021. Secondly, Mr Sunak announced a scheme that will allow first-time buyers to buy their home with a 5% deposit from this April. Let’s look at what each initiative means to the Helston, Porthleven and the Lizard Peninsula property market.

 

1. Stamp Duty Holiday extension for Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula home buyers

 

Coming out of the first lockdown in the early summer of 2020, there was a lot of apprehension that the British property market would flounder. Therefore, when the Stamp Duty Holiday was announced back in July 2020 to boost the property market, the deadline was set at the 31st March 2021.  Little did anyone know of the snowball effect of people wanting to move because of the initial lockdown in the Spring of 2020, the pent-up demand following the conclusion of the EU negotiations with the subsequent ‘Boris Bounce’ and then the Stamp Duty Holiday which made the perfect storm for what has been the busiest property market in Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula since 2001/2.

 

The average stamp duty paid by a Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula (TR12 & TR13) homebuyer is £4,095

 

The reason the Stamp Duty extension is important is that many estate agents and solicitors have been warning for the last couple of months that home buyers would pull out of property deals or renegotiate if they could not complete their sale in time before the Stamp Duty Holiday ended.

 

So, by phasing down the Stamp Duty Holiday, this will allow some breathing space for burdened solicitors and mortgage lenders, thus decreasing the number of buyers pulling out of their property purchase because they unexpectedly have to find up to an extra £15,000 in Stamp Duty when property sales do not complete on time.

 

There are currently 279 properties that are sold STC in Helston, Porthleven and the Lizard Peninsula alone and the vast majority of those will save money on their stamp duty because of this extension

 

So, what does the Stamp Duty extension mean for Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula house prices?

 

The extension has heightened confidence in the property market. The Government watchdog ‘The Office for Budget Responsibility’, has predicted that house prices in 4 years’ time will be just over 13% higher, compared to their pre-Christmas predicted figure of 11% growth (over the same time frame).

 

2.     5% deposit mortgages for Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula first-time buyers

 

From next month, first-time buyers will be able to buy homes worth up to £600,000 with a 5% deposit and a Government-backed mortgage with a fixed rate of up to 5 years.

 

Rishi Sunak wants to turn the millennial ‘Generation Renters’ into ‘Generation Buyers’ and believes this initiative should be able to help two million people get on the property ladder. When we look at what that would mean for Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula, we estimate…

 

946 Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula (TR12 & TR13) people could be helped onto the property ladder with these 5% deposit mortgages

 

The Government backed scheme will be open to first-time buyers for 21 months (until the end of 2022) and available from lenders including NatWest, Lloyds and HSBC (plus others to be announced soon). It will be available on all homes new or second hand (previous schemes applied to new homes only).

 

5% deposit mortgages were all but withdrawn from the market at the start of the pandemic in Spring 2020 with an almost default minimum deposit of 10% (even as high as 15% in the Autumn just gone) putting homeownership out of reach for all but the wealthiest Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula first-time buyers.

 

We must admit, we found it a scandal that homeownership among the 25 to 34 year olds plummeted from 69% in 1981 to 36% by 2014, although with certain Government incentives and low interest rates since then, that had risen to 41% by last year, but it’s not enough

 

With so many young families paying huge sums in rent, who could effortlessly afford to make mortgage repayments on the same property, they haven’t been able to save enough for a 10% initial mortgage deposit, let alone 15%.

 

Yet now with these new 5% deposit mortgages, many first-time buyers will be able to afford to buy their first home. Banks will typically lend between four and a half and five times the gross annual income – this means with a modest 5% deposit; many 20 and 30 somethings will now be able to buy their first home. Just before we finish this topic, the 5% deposit mortgages will also be available to current homeowners who don’t have the equity built up in their existing home – thus helping second or third (or more) time buyers as well.

 

If you are a Helston, Porthleven and Lizard Peninsula homeowner or buyer and you want to discuss your options on selling or buying in the surrounding area, do not hesitate to contact us.

 

ALL STATS BASED ON POSTCODE TR12 & TR13

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About us

The Mather Partnership is an independent estate agent in Cornwall, specialising in property for sale in South West Cornwall. We are based in Helston, the gateway to the Lizard Peninsula and the stunning Helford River, close to the Cornish seaside destinations of Porthleven, Mullion, Coverack and Praa Sands