Homebuyers rush to beat stamp duty threshold deadline

75,000 face extra cost after missing cut-off

- By Harvey Jones

MORE than half a million homebuyers raced to complete their purchases yesterday before stamp duty thresholds were slashed adding thousands of pounds to the cost.

Nearly 75,000 are expected to miss the cut-off, according to property portal Rightmove.

Around 575,000 have been fighting to push through their transaction among backlogs in sales.

From today, the tax on an average home in England will jump £2,500 from £2,028 to £4,528, said Coventry Building Society, but first-time buyers could pay as much as £11,250 more.

Shock

With mortgage rates still high due to stubborn inflation, the stamp duty shock is set to worsen affordability, particularly for first-timers.