Stamp Duty Changes

So how does the change affect the market in and around the Bedford area? According to Rightmove, a leading national property portal, the average sale price in the Bedford area over the last twelve months has been £198,675 that would now show a saving of £513 in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) payments. Elstow’s average was £212,847 (£372 less), Biddenham £319,638 (£3,608 less) and Clapham £209,878 (£401 less).

Interestingly the old £250,000 threshold carries exactly the same tax rate, however whereas before stepping just £1 over that threshold would have increased the duty payable to £7,500 the payment would remain the same at £2,500.

Taking Bedfordshire as a whole there are approximately 3,380 properties for sale with just 45 of them being priced at £1M or over, just 1.3% of the total. The average asking price across Bedfordshire is £296,742 which if translated in to a sale would show a saving of £4,065 in SDLT.

So it seems that by far the majority of home buyers will benefit, or be no worse off, by the changes and only those that are purported to be able to afford it will suffer an increase.