The most significant announcement affecting the property market is the Stamp Duty Holiday, which has increased the threshold at which stamp duty is paid on property purchases.

This is good for both first-time buyers and homeowners who are looking to move up the property ladder and now don't have to pay stamp duty on property purchases up to £500,000.

The new announcement takes immediate effect until March 2021, which estimates that 9 out of 10 buyers will pay no stamp duty at all, saving an average of £4,500.

The move is aimed at restoring the confidence in the property market, by motivating those who have been hesitating about making a property purchase.

Following the stamp duty announcement, the government has also budgeted a £2bn Green Home Grant scheme. Homeowners and landlords will now be able to claim two-thirds of any property improvements they carry out that improve the property's energy efficiency with a cap at £5,000.

Households with a low income will be able to claim 100% of the improvement costs up to a maximum of£10,000. 

The Green Home Grant scheme has been set up to allow homeowners to save hundreds of pounds on their energy bill and will have the added benefit of improving the environment. 

The Job Retention Bonus scheme is also benefiting the property market. When unemployment levels are low, the housing market typically performs well, as people have the confidence to purchase a home. 

The Chancellor's announcement encourages companies to keep on furloughed workers once the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme ends in October 2020. Under the new scheme, employers will receive a one-off payment of £1,000 for every furloughed employee who continues to be employed until the end of January 2021. 

Further announcements include the VAT cut from 20% to 5% on food and non-alcoholic drinks, tourist attractions and accommodation from July 15th until the January 12th 2021.

The hospitality sector employees more than 8% of the UK workforce and with the reduced VAT rate, combined with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, the government hopes that the hospitality sector will start to thrive, in turn boosting the overall consumer confidence. 

The government also plans to bring forward new infrastructure projects worth an astonishing £8.8bn, creating tens of thousands of new jobs. This includes hospitals, schools' maintenance, making public buildings more energy-efficient, improving road networks and smaller projects to boost the local economic recovery.

The spending should not only help to support employment, but it could also have a positive impact on local housing markets through improved connectivity and regeneration and economic recovery schemes.

If you are looking to purchase a property and want to know more about the Stamp Duty changes, call us on 0116 266 9977!

This is subject to further government policy changes.