Hopeful home buyers have been motivated to take action inside the housing market due to the savings offered by the offered Stamp Duty Holiday. It was due at the close of March, but the announcement came last week that it would be extended for another three months. The tax is suspended for properties up to £500,000. 

The extension is meant to help ease the transition back to normal for the housing market. The announcement will be welcomed by those that had rushed to take advantage of the savings opportunity, but the deadline threatened to have stopped it.

The new 30 June deadline will help the housing market stay active and that will help support the economy. 

There are critics that believe the extension will be troublesome overall, because the housing market has be resilient and busy for reasons other than the stamp duty holiday. It was but a bonus above the other opportunities, such as low interest rates based upon the Bank of England’s historically low interest rate of 0.1%. 

More activity in the housing market when few properties are being brought onto the market will push house prices higher as demand grows. The average UK house price has been breaking records and it is pushing the ability to become a homeowner further and further out of reach of buyers, especially first time buyers. 

The stamp duty holiday will continue after the end of June at a lower level. Through the end of September the extension will cover only the properties purchased below the £250,000. It will then revert to the normal threshold of taxes applied at properties more than £125,000.