Who else is trying to move before the stamp duty freeze ends?

[ROBBOTOO]

New builds prior to the pandemic often offered the incentive to buy with no stamp duty.

If looking at a new build now, what would you be gaining.

[mickey68]

Originally Posted by ROBBOTOO

New builds prior to the pandemic often offered the incentive to buy with no stamp duty.

If looking at a new build now, what would you be gaining.

See more...

We Negotiated extras to be added into the house and we also got cash back. They have also paid the additional stamp duty above the threshold.

[Tinkerbell 1]

Just to update following my previous post, the Welsh government revised their advice yesterday and valuations can now continue in Lockdown. Good news for any in the process of moving on Wales.

[GoldenAvalanche]

Originally Posted by ROBBOTOO

New builds prior to the pandemic often offered the incentive to buy with no stamp duty.

If looking at a new build now, what would you be gaining.

See more...

We were very jammy. We sold our house the day the restrictions lifted in May and reserved a new build straight away with a pre-housing-market frenzy price tag (although means we sold at that too of course), we negotiated stamp duty off, £3000 cash back, flooring and upgraded kitchen it was when the market was still very uncertain so I think they were pleased to be getting reservations. Then the stamp duty was announced, market went crazy, our developers started selling our type of house for £15,000 more for plots not yet reserved so we dodged that AND they honoured the stamp duty incentive by calling it something else so the mortgage company agreed, so when we completed we were given the cash that would have gone on stamp duty. On completion day we had a 5 figure sum sent to our account! I was very impressed with Barratt for doing that, I didn't even ask.

In terms of what would you be gaining for those reserving now, most developers have a financial cap on their incentives, so with the stamp duty incentive you've automatically got that at no cost to you or the builder so more wriggle room for flooring, upgrades, cash back etc (depending on how popular the development is, ours is shifting at a rapid pace so I guess there are less incentives if they don't feel a pressure to use them).

However, prior to that it was all soooooooo stressful. Our buyer really struggled with his mortgage, he had to find additional funds. It nearly all fell through in the 11th hour, we had to go into rented for 4 weeks, it was the most stressful 4 months of my life but worth it in the end. A pandemic isn't the easiest of times to be buying and selling but it can be done, good luck to anyone going through the process. A few houses that were on the market for months (one for 2 years!) that we were looking at sold over this period, things are shifting.