Time is ticking away before the stamp duty holiday ends on 31st March. After this date, anyone buying a home worth £125,000 or more will pay the tax, with the point at which buyers start paying stamp duty dropping down from the current threshold of £250,000. For first-time buyers, the nil-rate band will fall from £425,000 to £300,000.
For movers, the reversion to previous stamp duty rates will cost them a maximum of £2,500 extra, whereas first-time buyers could face bigger increases, with those buying more expensive homes seeing the biggest hikes. A buyer purchasing their first home for £625,000, for instance, will see their stamp duty bill rise by £11,250.
So, is there still time to buy a home before the deadline?
Fundamentally, the answer depends on what you’re buying and how you’re funding the purchase. Our research into the share of home sales agreed, which reach completion within a range of time periods, shows that, for all types of home, 94% complete within 12 months. For flats, which are often leasehold and therefore the conveyancing process can be more complex, it’s 90%.
Within three months, 29% of all homes and 22% of flats manage to reach completion, but this falls dramatically if the sale needs to go through in two months – only 13% of all homes and 8% of flats manage to complete in this time period, according to our research. Meanwhile, only 6% of all home sales and 4% of flats complete within a month.
Next, we looked at how long sales typically take to reach completion depending on who the buyer is – whether they are purchasing their first home; they’re a mover; or a buy-to-let landlord. Of first-time buyers, 26% manage to complete in three months, falling to 11% in two months and just 4% in one month.
The odds are stacked against movers, who are often in a chain and the transaction is therefore typically more complicated. While 22% of movers manage to complete in three months, only 5% manage to do so in two months and just 2% in a month.
By contrast, the outlook is brighter for investors, 41% of whom typically complete in three months. Almost one in four (23%) completes in two months, while 18% complete in a month. These buy-to-let purchases tend to mark the end of a chain and, therefore complete more quickly.
The chances of completing in less than three months are also greatly increased if the purchase is being funded by cash, rather than relying on a mortgage. One in five cash sales complete in two months, whereas only 12% of mortgaged purchases manage to reach completion in this time frame. And 13% of cash purchases complete in a month, compared to just 4% of purchases made using a mortgage.
Over the past couple of months, we have seen an uptick in the number of sales being agreed as purchasers – especially first-time buyers – have raced to complete before April. There has been a notable increase in home sales over £425,000, where new buyers face the biggest increase in their tax bill. In November and December, 10% of first-time buyers paid more than £425,000 for their first homes, up from 8% during 2024 as a whole.
Buyers have also become more price-sensitive in the wake of the Budget and growing uncertainty over the outlook for mortgage rates, which began drifting higher at the beginning of the year. The median discount increased from £2,000 in the third quarter of last year to £5,000 in Q4, double the maximum £2,500 increase in a mover's stamp duty bill from April.
Ultimately, we’re probably past the point where the average buyer can complete by the end of March. It’s not impossible, but investors and cash buyers purchasing freehold houses have the best chance of making it over the line in time.
