The average house price for homemovers rose by 15 per cent during the stamp duty holiday, according to Halifax.
Analysis by the bank found the average property price for homemovers was £373,537 in the six months to June 2020.
The figure increased by £57,790 during the stamp duty holiday to £431,327 in the six months to December 2020.
The average price for first-time buyers also rose, by a lesser 7 per cent, from £266,381 in the six months to June 2020, to £286,239 in the six months to December 2020.
Since July 8 the residential stamp duty threshold has been raised from £125,000 to £500,000.
Consequently, the proportion of homemovers paying stamp duty on transactions dropped from 93 per cent in the six months to June 2020 to 26 per cent in the six months to December.
There was also a drop in the proportion of first-time buyers paying stamp duty, from 29 per cent to 10 per cent in the same period, with the largest falls among buyers in London and the South East.
In London two-thirds (67 per cent) of homemovers paid stamp duty on their property purchase in the six months to December, and 39 per cent in the South East, down from 100 per cent in both regions.
Chris Sykes, associate director and mortgage consultant at Private Finance, said: “We had many clients pushing forward moving plans potentially even years.
"The stamp duty holiday benefitted homemovers the most, as first-time buyers already had some benefits they could take advantage of previously.
“Many saw this holiday as a chance to save themselves up to £15,000 they would have had to pay, so used it as an opportunity to bring forward upsizing plans.”
| FIRST-TIME BUYERS | HOMEMOVERS | |||
| REGION | % paying stamp duty Jun 2020 >£300k | % paying stamp duty Dec 2020 >£500k | % paying stamp duty Jun 2020 >£125k | % paying stamp duty Dec 2020 >£500k |
| North | 3% | 0.50% | 74% | 4% |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 4% | 0.70% | 84% | 8% |
| North West | 7% | 0.90% | 86% | 11% |
| East Midlands | 6% | 1.30% | 93% | 10% |
| West Midlands | 10% | 1.60% | 94% | 13% |
| East Anglia | 18% | 3.20% | 98% | 19% |
| Wales | 25% | 12.40% | 56% | 43% |
| South West | 15% | 2.90% | 98% | 21% |
| South East | 42% | 9.20% | 100% | 39% |
| Greater London | 86% | 38.10% | 100% | 67% |
| ENGLAND AND WALES | 29% | 10% | 93% | 26% |
| Source: Halifax, six months rolling to June, Dec 2020. Wales based on land transaction thresholds >180K and >250K. | ||||
Although the average property price rose for first-time buyers and homemovers during the stamp duty holiday, Nationwide’s house price index showed house price growth slowed for the first time in six months in January as the market approached the deadline for the tax relief on March 31.
Sellers keen to secure a sale before the deadline have also been dropping their asking prices, according to one estate agency.
chloe.cheung@ft.com
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