Rightmove’s analysis has revealed that an estimated 25,000 first-time buyers are expected to miss the Stamp Duty deadline and complete their purchases in April, resulting in £34m in extra costs.
The study focused on homes with two or fewer bedrooms, priced up to £625,000, the maximum threshold for first-time buyers.
Approximately 74,000 home-movers in England will face delays past the 31st March deadline, collectively paying an additional £142m in Stamp Duty.
The average completion time for purchases in England is currently 163 days.
Colleen Babcock, a property market expert at Rightmove, said: “We expect a rush to complete close to March 31st as first-time buyers and home-movers try to avoid paying extra in tax.
“Our numbers show how there is a relatively small, but disproportionately impacted group of first-time buyers who will be caught out by the changing thresholds, highlighting some disparities in the way the current system works.”
Babcock added: “With 74,000 people only just set to miss the deadline, in part because of the extremely lengthy completion times in England, we think it would make sense to grant a short extension to the deadline and help these movers, rather than have them face higher charges when they complete later in April.”
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said: “There will be a lot of first-time buyers disheartened by the fact that they will have to pay, in some cases, thousands of extra pounds to complete their house purchase from April especially as many of the delays experienced will have been out of the buyers’ control due to issues presented in the property chain.
“Moving forward, we know that those determined to buy a home and step onto the property ladder will factor this into their costs.
“However, for some, this is not possible or will not be easy to accomplish.”
Emerson added: “The extra cost may come as a blow and set people back from being able to make their aspirations of owning a property a reality.
“It’s important that the UK Government takes this into consideration moving forward and in order to keep the property chain moving fluently well into the future, financial support may well be needed.”
