This year’s Spring Budget arrived a tad earlier than usual amidst a backdrop that’s become all too familiar in recent years, with rampant speculation and anticipation.
It came after weeks of rumours around potential changes to stamp duty tax, and the possible launch of a 99% mortgage scheme.
The chancellor announced in his budget on Wednesday that he is scrapping the short-term lets tax regime, and abolishing stamp duty relief on multiple dwellings.
On capital gains tax of property, Jeremy Hunt reduced the top rate from 28% to 24%, which he said would bring in more money as it would cover more transactions.
In a tax-cutting budget, he cut National Insurance from 10% to 8%, which he said would give the average worker £450 per year.
There was no mention in the budget of a 99% mortgage to help first-time buyers.
While the speech made some announcements related to the housing market, these are all measures that are likely to be relevant to only a small number of home buyers and sellers.
So, what has been the response to the Spring budget from activity in the property market?
In the two days after the budget, sales were up 30.93% on the two days prior to the budget, sellers adjusting their asking prices had increased by 23.49%, and sellers returning to the market was 81.31% higher.
The above figures appear to suggest a get on with it attitude for potential home movers in 2024 compared to the sit-and-wait approach of 2023.
The base rate has paused four times in a row, interest rates seem to be steady at 4-5% depending on LTV, inflation has more than halved over the past year and house prices only dropped 0.26% in 2023.
All of this has meant there is higher confidence and a more positive sentiment towards the property market and that stability is reassuring people to make a move in 2024.
If you are interested to find out more about what is going on locally in the property market, please do feel free to contact me as I would be very more than happy to discuss this further.
Thank you for reading.