Second Home Buyers’ Boost

If you have any conveyancing queries relating to buying a second home please do not hesitate to contact us for a free, no-obligation chat on 0207 703 5034  or fill out our contact form and we will come back to you.  We are happy to answer your questions and advise how we may be able to help.

Our Head Of Property, Partner Chris Sarsfield, was quoted in the Sunday Times newspaper on the subject of how the Stamp Duty holiday would affect second home buyers. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to raise the Stamp Duty threshold to £500,000 until the end of March 2021 has proved to be an unexpected boost for second home buyers.

Although second home buyers will still be charged a 3 per cent surcharge on the total cost of their property it still creates significant savings.

For example, someone buying a second home for £500,000 during the Stamp Duty holiday will now pay £15,000 rather than £30,000.

Mr Sarsfield helped the Sunday Times produce an article explaining how the new working from home mentality caused by lockdown combined with the Stamp Duty holiday was creating large demands for second homes.

He commented: ‘Once working-from-home patterns had been established and it became apparent that this new flexible way of working was going to continue after lockdown finishes there was a  significant upsurge in people wanting properties outside of London, and particularly by the coast.

‘This second home trend is inevitably going to be turbo-charged by the chancellor’s stamp duty holiday. Until recently we’d seen a large drop in purchases of second homes after the stamp duty surcharge was introduced but I think people will take real advantage of this window. Suddenly someone buying a second home for £500,000 is having to pay £15,000 rather than £30,000 in stamp duty which is clearly a significant saving.

‘People have realised that they can work from home by the sea and perhaps only have to commute into London once a week. It suddenly doesn’t matter that a second home is a couple of hours from the office. It means they can get proper use of the home, particularly in the holidays when the children aren’t at school.

‘The stamp duty holiday has also been a real boost for those wanting to purchase holiday lets because it makes it more affordable and more likely that the numbers will add up to allow them to afford a buy-to-let mortgage.’

If you have any queries relating to conveyancing around second homes please do not hesitate to contact us for a free, no-obligation chat on 0207 703 5034  or fill out our contact form and we will come back to you.