First-time buyers rush to buy before stamp duty increases

2024 saw 1.1m residential property transactions and bought the value of the residential property market in the UK to £379 billion, an increase of 6.3%, however this is still way below the peak reached during the pandemic in 2021, of £521 billion. An overall average sale price was £343,922 according to property agent Savills. The increase during 2024 was a marked rise of £22.3 billion compared to 2023.

London's spend fell below that of the South East of England for the first time in 2 years, with a 2.3% increase, equating to approximately £72.8 billion.

The highest increase was in Northern Ireland, which saw 13.4% year-on-year growth.

Savills reported that the UK also saw an increase in the use of mortgages, with spending by cash buyers fell just over 5% by £8.4 billion. Cash and Equity dropped as a result to 58% of the whole spend in 2024. The largest demographic taking up mortgage expenditure was with the first time buyers where mortgage debt rose by 21.4%, reaching £12.2 billion. This possible surge of activity in the first time buyers market was possibly driven by the lack of supply in the private rental sector and rising rents pushing those able to raise a deposit to buy, even in the wake of increasing property prices, coupled with the looming increase in stampy duty charges from 1st April, leading to many purchasers rushing to buy before this deadline.