Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Business

UK house prices fall after stamp duty rush cools market momentum

by April 7, 2025
April 7, 2025
UK house prices fall after stamp duty rush cools market momentum

UK house prices recorded their sharpest monthly fall in a year as the housing market cooled following a rush of buyers trying to beat changes to stamp duty thresholds in England and Northern Ireland.

According to Halifax, the average price of a home fell by 0.5% in March to £296,699 – marking the largest monthly drop since March 2023. This was the second consecutive decline, with February’s figure revised down from a 0.1% dip to a 0.2% fall.

The pullback follows a mini-boom in January, when property prices surged to a record high as buyers scrambled to complete transactions before changes to stamp duty came into effect on 1 April.

“House prices rose in January as buyers rushed to beat the March stamp duty deadline,” said Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax. “However, with those deals now completing, demand is returning to normal and new applications are slowing.”

The changes, introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her October budget, ended the temporary stamp duty cuts introduced in England and Northern Ireland during the pandemic. First-time buyers now pay stamp duty on properties worth more than £300,000, down from £425,000, while the upper threshold for a reduced rate has fallen from £625,000 to £500,000. The standard zero-rate threshold for all buyers has also been halved, from £250,000 to £125,000.

Halifax reported a significant spike in completions in March, with the volume of house sales exceeding those in January and February combined. “It included the busiest single day on record,” said Bryden. “Following this burst of activity, house prices, which remain near record highs, unsurprisingly fell back last month.”

Despite the slowdown, analysts remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the housing market in 2025. A continued imbalance between supply and demand is expected to support prices, and falling mortgage rates could bring further stability.

The Bank of England is widely expected to cut the base interest rate up to three more times this year, each by 0.25 percentage points – a move that would provide additional relief for buyers and support affordability.

“Hopefully this month-on-month dip is only temporary,” said Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark. “The spring and summer months normally spur on a flurry of housing activity, especially at a time when there are many competitive mortgage deals out there as a result of last year’s rate reductions.”

Mortgage rates have edged down again, with Moneyfacts reporting the average two-year fixed deal now at 5.32%, and the five-year fixed rate at 5.17%. Meanwhile, the number of residential mortgage products continues to rise, hitting 6,945 – up slightly from 6,936 at the end of last week.

Despite this, Halifax’s data indicates a broader softening in market momentum. Annual house price growth stood at 2.8% in March – unchanged from February, but down from 3.4% in December and 4.7% in November.

While the latest data suggests the market is rebalancing after a volatile start to the year, all eyes will be on how buyers and sellers respond to changing economic conditions over the coming months.

Read more:
UK house prices fall after stamp duty rush cools market momentum

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Trump, Netanyahu to meet at White House as Israel seeks tariff relief, discussions on Iran, Gaza hostages
next post
One in four Brits scammed buying tickets for popular events, Nationwide warns

You may also like

New Regulations on Holiday Lets Set to Tackle...

February 19, 2024

How to Use Humanize.io to Bypass Turnitin Effectively...

January 20, 2025

British Steel nears £600m Government bailout as Labour...

August 11, 2024

Downing Street ponders creating ‘AI Safety Institute’

October 10, 2023

Financial wellbeing startup Mintago closes $4.75m funding round

September 26, 2023

How is each train operator affected by the...

January 31, 2023

Rishi Sunak announces controversial delays to UK’s net...

September 20, 2023

Trump set to announce major UK-US trade deal...

May 8, 2025

RMT votes to accept Network Rail pay offer

March 21, 2023

Over 450 directors banned for pandemic loans misuse

April 19, 2023

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Trump administration takes on new battle shutting down initial Iran strike assessments

      June 29, 2025
    • Trump administration takes on new battle shutting down initial Iran strike assessments

      June 29, 2025
    • Schumer forces reading of Trump’s entire ‘big, beautiful bill’ as Senate braces for all-nighter

      June 29, 2025
    • Schumer forces reading of Trump’s entire ‘big, beautiful bill’ as Senate braces for all-nighter

      June 29, 2025
    • Trump, lawmakers react after ‘big, beautiful bill’ clears Senate hurdle

      June 29, 2025
    • How Staff Can Strengthen HIPAA Compliance and Security

      June 29, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,334)
    • Investing (2,081)
    • Politics (15,856)
    • Stocks (3,177)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved