P2P platforms welcome stamp duty holiday extension
Peer-to-peer lending platforms have welcomed the extension of the stamp duty holiday.
In his Wednesday Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the stamp duty holiday, which he introduced last July for the purchase of homes up to £500,000 in England and Wales, from 31 March to the end of June.
Sunak said that anyone who purchases a property that completes by 30 June will not have to pay tax on the first £500,000 and that the nil rate band will be £250,000 – double its standard level – until the end of September, in order to smooth the transition back to normal.
The extension and the tiered approach to removing the stamp duty holiday was something that platforms and industry stakeholders had been calling for and now they welcomed.
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“I don’t expect this extension will lead to increased activity compared to the last extension but it’s obviously good to support the housing market generally,” said Filip Karadaghi, co-founder and chief executive of P2P property lending platform LandlordInvest.
“It’s a positive and we would expect it to benefit us, not hugely, but it’ll still benefit us.”
Lee Birkett, founder of business and property P2P platform JustUs, also welcomed the extension.
“I’m in favour of anything that is positive and benefits the property market,” he said.
“There’s a huge backlog in the property market so it’s only fair to taper it and extend it.
“It doesn’t really benefit us, if the People’s Mortgage was live it would but it’s not. In theory it’ll boost new home sales and maintain new home sales volumes which helps the developers we fund as a large proportion of our lending is for building new homes.”
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Yann Murciano, chief executive of property P2P platform Blend Network, welcomed the stamp duty holiday extension but said the government needs to look at the supply side of the problem.
“We join market participants in welcoming measures such as the stamp duty holiday extension that allow more first-time buyers get their feet on the property ladder,” he said.
“However, as lenders working very closely with property developers to channel much-needed funding into new housing, we urge the UK government to also consider measures that tackle the supply side of the property market in order to avoid further deepening the affordability gap.
“While we welcome additional help for first-time buyers, we believe a sole focus on policies that support demand without tackling the supply side of the equation is a time ticking bomb and risks further inflating prices in the medium to long-term.”
