The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to announce the budget for the 21-22 financial year on March 3rd. Here we discuss what this may mean for the housing market.
Stamp Duty Tax – The Stamp Duty Tax relief was implemented in July 2020 with the aim to make it more achievable for homeowners to move house. This has come as a relief to many and resulted in an unexpected ‘Housing Boom’ with transactions and house prices increasing throughout.
This relief is due to end on 31st March and during the budget, the chancellor will announce whether this will still be the case. Many companies and home owners have called for a 6-week extension to help the hundreds of thousands who are likely to fail to complete before the deadline.
Rental Help and The Eviction Ban – The current eviction ban is still in place, forbidding landlords from evicting tenants during the pandemic. The chancellor may well announce plans for how this ban will slowly ease out but more importantly, about any help that may be given to tenants who find themselves in rent arrears. Scotland and Wales have both already provided details of grants to help those with rent arrears and homeless charities in England have called for similar measures.
Failure of suitable help for tenants is likely to result in mass evictions and a rise in homelessness once the ban is lifted.
Capital Gains Tax – Hiking capital gains tax may be seen as a good way for the government to claw back some funds needed after a year of spending. It has been reported they could make over £14billion extra revenue by increasing capital gains tax. However, the knock-on effect that this may have on the private rented sector is also a fear, by discouraging investment in property, supply will inevitably dwindle too.
The announcement will come on March 3rd and this year, any announcement is a possibility!