sellers now look to benefit from stamp duty holiday

Figures released by Rightmove show that new house sellers are prepared to reduce the asking price on their property as they look to attract buyers before the stamp duty holiday ends on March 31^st.  

The leading property portal says that asking prices have dropped on average by 0.5% (£1,505) compared to last month and national sales are a massive 50% up on October last year.

Rightmove also estimates that there are currently 650,000 sales going through the sales process nationally, which is nearly 70% more than the same period in 2019. Agreed sales have seen an uplift of 106% and the time to find a buyer in the £400,000 to £500,000 price range has reduced by 23 days.

Ben Furnell, Managing Director of Furnell Residential, said: “Sellers are clearly keen to progress their house sale so they themselves can take advantage of the stamp duty saving on their next property purchase. They seem prepared to be realistic with pricing to avoid drawn out negotiations.

“However sales progression is taking a lot longer than normal due to the number of sales currently going through, meaning sellers and buyers really do have to act quickly to have any chance of benefiting from the stamp duty holiday.”

Meanwhile Rightmove has said that its revised prediction of a 7% annual increase in prices in 2020 looks to be on target given the annual rate has increased to 6.3% with another month still to go.

Ben commented: “It has certainly been an exceptional year for the property market with no current indication that this is going to change. Pent up demand during lockdown, available funding, low interest rates and the stamp duty freeze have all been contributing factors.”