P2P platforms welcome the extension of stamp duty holidays

Peer-to-peer lending platforms have welcomed the extension of the stamp duty holiday.

In its Wednesday budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended stamp duty holiday, which he introduced last July for the purchase of houses up to £ 500,000 in England and Wales, from March 31 until the end of June.

Sunak said anyone who purchases a property that ends by June 30 will not have to pay tax on the first £ 500,000 and that the zero rate bracket will be £ 250,000 – double that of its standard level – until the end of September, in order to smooth the return to normal.

the extension and the tiered approach to eliminate the stamp duty holiday was something that platforms and industry stakeholders had called for and now welcomed.

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“I don’t expect this extension to lead to an increase in activity compared to the last extension, but it is obviously good to support the housing market in general,” said Filip Karadaghi, co-founder and Managing Director of the P2P LandlordInvest real estate loan platform.

“It’s positive and we expect it to benefit us, not tremendously, but it will benefit us nonetheless.”

Lee Birkett, founder of the commercial and real estate P2P platform JustUs, also praised the extension.

“I am for anything that is positive and benefits the real estate market,” he said.

“There is a huge backlog in the real estate market, so it’s only fair to narrow and expand it.

“It doesn’t really benefit us, if the People’s Mortgage was in effect it would, but it isn’t. In theory, this will boost new home sales and maintain new home sales volumes, which will help the developers we fund, as a large portion of our loans are for building new homes.

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Yann Murciano, managing director of real estate platform P2P Blend Network, welcomed the extension of the stamp duty holidays, but said the government needs to look into the supply issue.

“We join with market players in welcoming measures such as the extension of the stamp duty holidays which allow more first-time buyers to set foot on the real estate ladder,” he said.

‘However, as lenders working closely with property developers to channel much-needed finance into new homes, we urge the UK government to also consider measures that tackle the supply side of the property market in order to avoid to further widen the affordability gap.

“While we welcome additional help for first-time buyers, we believe that focusing only on policies that support demand without tackling the supply side of the equation is a time bomb and risks inflating further medium and long term price. “

Maria J. Book