Autumn Budget: Stamp Duty abolished on Shared Ownership homes

Following yesterday’s Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond has confirmed that Stamp Duty is to be abolished for all first time buyers purchasing a Shared Ownership property valued up to £500,000.

The speech, which was delivered Mr Hammond on Monday 29th November, recognises the importance of the Shared Ownership scheme by raising the starting point of Stamp Duty to £500,000.

This means that the vast majority of Shared Ownership purchasers outside the capital will not pay any Stamp Duty on the purchase of their first home. However, Stamp Duty will still apply on homes valued above £500,000, which we estimate applies to up to a third of properties in London.

The Chancellor also confirmed that this would be applied retrospectively, backdated to completions on Shared Ownership homes after November 22nd 2017 which will no doubt be welcomed by those who did not benefit from Stamp Duty relief the first time around.

On top of the Stamp Duty news, Mr Hammond also announced more strategic approaches in the budget including an investment in partnerships with some of the UK’s biggest housing associations to deliver 13,000 homes, and the release of an additional £500 million housing infrastructure fund which will unlock 650,000 homes.

Stephen Dwelley, Director of Share to Buy, comments: “We firmly believe that Shared Ownership, with its lower deposit requirements and flexible stepping stone approach, is a genuine solution to the housing crisis – and this change demonstrates that the scheme is moving up the political agenda… we hope that both these moves will serve to increase the supply of Shared Ownership homes considerably, making the scheme more widely available for first time buyers looking to buy their own home.”

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