Spring Budget Comment

This Spring Budget, with its focus on jobs and growth, is set to continue to shore up, stabilise and stimulate the economy as we hopefully start to look beyond the covid-era lockdowns.

The Stamp Duty Holiday has undoubtedly had a significant impact on the housing market activity.

Its extension until the end of June will certainly help more people take advantage of the reduction in the cost of moving, with savings of up to £15,000.

That would just defer the inevitable sudden stop, with a potential bottleneck of completions trying to meet the deadline shifting from March to June.

The tapering of the initiative, with a step change from June to the end of September, will smooth the return to previous stamp duty levels in autumn. This now enables new sellers and buyers can now plan their Spring move with some confidence but they will still need to act quickly to benefit from reduced stamp duty rates over the next few months.

The new Mortgage Guarantee scheme is very much welcomed for buyers who require a 95% mortgage. Lenders who provide loans to homebuyers who don’t have more than a 5% deposit will benefit from a government guarantee, and the loans will be offered by some of our high street lenders.

This should benefit buyers of properties up to £600,000, whether of a newly built or existing home. As 95% mortgages are so rare these days, bringing this back as an option will help more people with small deposits up on to the property ladder.

This Budget appears to be a careful balancing act and one which looks forward to the future, with solutions to help support the recovery for the economy in the coming months.

by

Philip Jordan, Chief Executive, Henry Adams LLP