"Pressure will now be on the Scottish Ministers to extend their stamp duty holiday, also capped at £250,000 and worth up to £2,100"
The first £250,000 of the price paid for a residential property in Wales will continue to be free from Welsh stamp duty provided that the transaction completes before 1st July 2021.
For transactions completing on or after 1st July, the £250,000 threshold will revert to £180,000. The Welsh Ministers have decided not to give a reduced stamp duty holiday.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed yesterday that the stamp duty holiday will be extended until the end of June in England, followed by a tapered approach until the end of September.
Sunak said that "to smooth transition back to normal", the nil rate band will reduce from £500,000 to £250,000 from the end of June until the end of September, before reverting back to £125,000 from October 1st.
Sean Randall, partner at Blick Rothenberg, said: “In response to the government’s decision to extend the stamp duty holiday in England and Northern Ireland by three months, the Welsh Government have announced they will do the same.
“The 1st July 2021 will become the new ‘cliff-edge’. The Welsh stamp duty holiday is worth up to £2,450. Pressure will now be on the Scottish Ministers to extend their stamp duty holiday, also capped at £250,000 and worth up to £2,100, which is due to end on 31 March 2021.”
James Tucker, CEO and founder of Twenty7Tec, commented: "Wales significantly outperformed the rest of the UK during the stamp duty holiday, despite its various lockdowns. Overall, it saw 48.99% more searches, 54.59% more residential searches and 29.32% more buy to let searches, compared to national figures (excluding Walers) of 43.72%, 47.85% and 26.84%, respectively.
"This also translated into market-beating results when it came to the number of documents prepared by brokers too: up 29.01% overall, up 30.00% for residential and up 25.19% for buy to let documents. This are all significantly ahead of the UK's averages (excluding Wales) of 22.42%, 22.71% and 21.35%.
"To many, the rural comforts and friendly lifestyle have created massive interest in the Wales property market since the announcement of a stamp duty holiday. So many City workers are asking themselves 'Why do I live in a central London two-bedroomed flat with sirens blaring past my window at all hours when for the same investment, I could work remotely from a beautiful spot in Wales and own a four-bedroomed detached house?'"
