Landbay boss moots stamp duty holiday extension

Landbay chief executive John Goodall said the property market has benefited from the stamp duty holiday and he would not be surprised if the tax break were extended past its 31 March deadline.

In July, Chancellor Rishi Sunak cut stamp duty on the purchases of homes up to £500,000 in England and Wales for both residential and buy-to-let.

Goodall said the stamp duty holiday has boosted the housing market and he thinks it could be extended like other types of government support such as furlough.

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“The stamp duty holiday has definitely helped, bringing some business forward as well as the incentive to purchase now,” Goodall said in an interview with brokerage Goodbody.

“It equates to about a £15,000 saving depending on the value of the property. It was applied to the buy-to-let sector and has been having an effect. Most areas of the mortgage market are busy right now.

“In terms of whether we expect it will be extended we have no insight but everything else the government has implemented has been extended, such as furlough.

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“If other measures were extended beyond March and a lot will depend on the vaccine programme and what happens with the virus, I wouldn’t be surprised if the stamp duty holiday would be extended in some way even if it becomes different to what it is now.”

Last month Landbay agreed a new funding line with an asset manager, to help it meet the increasingly high demand for its buy-to-let mortgages ahead of the end of the stamp duty holiday.

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