There is only a month left before the stamp duty break comes to an end on 31 March 2021. If you are in the process of buying property for your 'buy-to-let' portfolio, you will need to ensure that the paperwork is completed by this deadline. Conveyancing teams and surveyors are under a lot of pressure to get the process pushed through in such a short space of time.
Some property associations are asking the government for a short extension to allow more sales to be completed, but as yet, there is no news about whether this will happen.
The good news is that research has shown that since the Stamp Duty Holiday was introduced last year, more than 60% of property investors and landlords used this as an opportunity to expand their property portfolios.
It was interesting to find that many landlords are purchasing properties in the suburbs rather than in City Centres. This may be due to more people working remotely during the pandemic. It is predicted that many will continue to work in this way even when the lockdown restrictions are eased.
This is further backed up by statistics shared by Dataloft Rental Market Analysis in January 2021. These showed that many tenants are looking for more space, indoors and outdoors. Therefore they are looking for larger properties in the suburbs.
Many landlords feel that the Stamp Duty holiday has helped keep the property sector buoyant over the past year. This is reflected in data collected by Zoopla in the February 2021 insights; this showed that rental growth underpinned by the continued rise in demand, up 21% year on year in January in UK rental market, the only exception to this was property in London.
Richard Donnell, Research and Insight Director, Zoopla stated, 'Rising demand and a lack of new homes coming to the market for sale will keep an upward pressure on house prices in the near term, especially in the more affordable parts of the UK.’
We will keep you up to date with trends in the property sector over the coming months. We will continue to support landlords and property investors that want to look at tax-efficient ways of managing their portfolios.
If you would like any advice, please do contact us by calling 01623 490 120 or email