You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Stamp duty axed for shared ownership buyers of homes below £500,000
Stamp duty will be scrapped for first-time buyers of homes for shared ownership, the chancellor has announced.
The policy will apply to properties worth up to £500,000 with immediate effect and will include homes bought through shared ownership since last year’s Autumn Budget.
Shared ownership allows people to purchase an equity stake in a home, paying rent on the remaining portion of the equity and increasing their level of ownership when they can afford to. It is most commonly offered by housing associations.
Budget documents also reveal that the government “is launching a call for evidence inviting proposals from investors willing to collaborate with government to deliver a new wave of shared ownership homes”.
READ MORE
Key Budget measures for housing:
- £1bn to help fund the implementation of Universal Credit over the next five years
- £500m in Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock a further 650,000 homes
- The next wave of strategic partnerships with nine housing associations, which will deliver 13,000 homes
- British business bank guarantees for SME house builders
- ‘Simplification’ of process to convert commercial properties to new homes
- Providing funding to empower 500 neighbourhoods to allocate homes to local people in perpetuity
- Help to Buy equity loan scheme extended by two years to 2023 and limited to first-time buyers
- Retrospective inclusion of first-time buyers of shared ownership in stamp duty relief
Stamp duty is a lump-sum tax usually paid when buying a home worth up to £125,000.
At last year’s Autumn Budget, chancellor Philip Hammond abolished stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes worth up to £300,000, but the policy did not include shared ownership.
A buyer purchasing a £250,000 share of a home worth £500,000 would have paid £2,500 in stamp duty – while someone buying a £250,000 home outright would have been exempt.
Labour and housing associations have been calling on the government to exempt shared ownership buyers from stamp duty.
Delivering his speech to MPs today, Mr Hammond said 121,500 buyers have benefitted from the move so far with the number of first-time buyers at an 11-year high.
He added: “Today I’m extending this relief to all first-time buyers of shared ownership properties valued up to £500,000 and I will make this relief retrospective so that any first-time buyer who has made such a purchase since the last Budget will benefit.”
The Budget documents tables indicate that scrapping stamp duty for shared ownership first-time buyers will cost the Treasury £5m in 2019/20, with a negligible impact in the following three years.
The UK government controls stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland, with the tax devolved in Wales and Scotland.
Autumn Budget 2018 - full coverage
All our Autumn Budget 2018 coverage in one place:
The Autumn Budget lacked the ambition we need Philip Hammond’s Budget fell short for housing, writes Melanie Rees
There were no big fireworks but the Budget offers an opportunity to deliver The Budget leaves associations facing a choice and we must now deliver, argues David Montague
Names of new housing association strategic partnerships revealed Homes England has released the names of the eight housing associations that have just signed strategic partnerships with the government.
Budget a missed opportunity on housing, says NHF Reaction to the Autumn Budget from several organisations, including the National Housing Federation
Budget small print reveals significant announcements for housing Housing policies contained in the Autumn Budget and background documents published yesterday will have a large impact, if they actually go ahead, writes Jules Birch
Hammond’s extra Universal Credit cash is welcome – but we need homelessness specialists in Job Centres too The Autumn Budget must not become a missed opportunity to put in place measures to prevent homelessness, argues Ruth Jacob of Crisis
Hammond announces extra funding for Universal Credit: Philip Hammond has announced plans to pump more money into Universal Credit in the Autumn Budget today.
Help to Buy equity loan scheme extended to 2023 for first time buyers:The Help to Buy equity loan scheme will be extended two years to 2023 for first time buyers only, with new price caps set for each English region.
Housing Live - the Autumn Budget 2018 as it happened: Live-blogging from Jules Birch reveals how the Autumn Budget unfolded and what it means for housing
OBR: scrapping council borrowing cap will deliver only 9,000 new homes: Scrapping the borrowing cap will deliver only 9,000 new homes over the next five years, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said.
Letwin: builders of large sites must accept more ’diversity’ of tenure: Builders should be required to accept suggested levels of affordable housing for large sites in order to receive government support, including Help to Buy, a major review of housebuilding has concluded.
Chancellor announces strategic partnerships with nine housing associations: Nine housing associations have signed new strategic partnerships with the government to deliver over 13,000 homes, Philip Hammond has announced.
Stamp duty scrapped for buyers of shared ownership homes worth up to £500,000: Stamp duty will be scrapped for first-time buyers of homes for shared ownership, the chancellor has announced.
