News: Are You A First Time Buyer Thinking Of Buying This Year?
With only two months to go until the end of the Stamp Duty holiday period, First Time Buyers could save thousands of pounds if they act now.
If you are you a First-Time-Buyer thinking of buying your first property this year, we urge you to start the process now, so as to complete your purchase before the end of the stamp duty holiday in March.
The first step to take is to make sure you can arrange the financial side of your purchase.
Our offices are fully versed in all the details and will be working closely with First-Time-Buyers, to guide them to a successful purchase before March 2012. Contact your local Curchods office for more information.
The Details:
To avoid hefty tax charges, First-Time-Buyers need to have completed their purchase before 25 March 2012.
Relief is available if all of the following apply:
- completion of the purchase takes place on or after, 25 March 2010 and before 25 March 2012
- the consideration given is £250,000 or less
- the buyer intends to live in the property and it will be their main residence
- they have not previously owned property or land either in the UK or anywhere else in the world - including property bought with anyone else
This means that, up to and incuding 24 March 2012, the threshold for qualifying First-Time-Buyers of residential property is £250,000. Financial institutions can claim the Stamp Duty Land Tax relief for first-time buyers using alternative finance schemes.
Currently, first-time buyers don't pay any stamp duty on properties priced between £125,000 and £250,000, whereas other buyers will pay 1% of the sale price to HMRC. Properties worth less than £125,000 are not subject to stamp duty at all.
The challenge for first-time buyers is often saving a sufficiently large deposit to secure a competitively priced mortgage.
New mortgage products are regularly coming on to the market and, for those where funding is difficult, they may be able to get funding from some of the smaller building societies (such as National Counties) who offer "family offset" mortgages – whereby parents don't have to hand over cash, but can keep it in their own, linked savings account, reducing the amount their offspring need to borrow. Woolwich is expected to launch a similar deal early this year.
Source: NFOPP
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Curchods operate 18 estate agency offices specialising in properties for sale in Surrey.
