Positive news from the Budget today with 2 key updates with the Stamp Duty holiday being extended and the launch of 95% mortgages in April.

Stamp Duty

Many homebuyers in England and Northern Ireland will be celebrating today, following the news that the stamp duty holiday, which was due to expire on 31 March 2021, has been extended to 30 June 2021. The extension will help some buyers save thousands of pounds in fees and give the intermediary community more time to help more people.

The Chancellor also announced that the stamp duty nil rate band will then change to double the previous nil rate to £250k from 1 July until the end of September 2021, and will then return to its previous £125k rate from 1 October 2021.

95% Mortgages

Mortgage Solutions has reported:

Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed plans to launch another government-backed 95 per cent Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme in the Budget, open to all buyers.

The scheme will be open to home buyers with a five per cent deposit, not just first-time buyers, for properties worth up to £600,000. It has been largely modelled on the previous Help to Buy scheme launched in 2013 to help lenders transition back in to the market, and is open to second hand properties not just new-build.

Sunak confirmed the UK’s biggest banks are poised to lend on the scheme from mid-April, include Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, Barclays and HSBC with Virgin Money readying to launch in May.

Full article can be read here