Shocked at the cost of stamp duty!!!

[chicaguapa]

We own a house which is currently being let while we rent in another area (we moved due to work). A house opposite has just come up for sale and we were looking into whether we could afford to buy it.

A quick mortgage quote says that the repayments would be roughly the same as our rent so this is ok. So I looked into the extra conveyance costs etc and couldn't believe that it will cost £9,000 in stamp duty! I'm genuinely . Has the cost of this gone up loads or have I had my head in the sand? I own my 4th house, DH's second, so it's not like we've not bought a house before.

And it's not as if we're moving up in the world either. It's 50% again on top of what our owned house is worth and we're swapping a 4-bed detached for a 3-bed terrace. How on earth do people afford to add that on top of the purchase price??

Be grateful. In most of the world there are land taxes - 1-4% of the market value of the property - due every year regardless of whether the building is in use or not.
It would make more sense if the UK increased taxes in immovable tangibles.

Well we are buying our first house and ours is £8850. Yes it is pretty shocking, no idea if it has gone up though. Luckily we knew this a long time ago so saved enough for a deposit plus an extra £12k for stamp duty and fees. Crazy amount of money really.

There is a huge jump in stamp duty as you go from 249,999 to 250,001 from 1% to 3% - so on those prices for an extra £2 purchase price, your stamp duty goes from £2500 to £7500!

I'm kind of surprised you didn't know about this - it's been a very contentious subject for years. Stamp duty went up to 3% over #250k at least 10 years ago (4% over #500k) and is now 5% over #1 million and will soon be 7% over #2 million...

I'm surprised too. Maybe it's because we've never lived in an area where we'd spend over £250,000 on a house until now.

that and when I bought this house it cost me £63k, but next door is on the market for £252k .....
yet another reason why the government has no incentive to let house prices drop back to affordable levels

It is absolutely crucifying! We are first time buyers living in the south east and have been waiting to buy our family home for 9 years! We have now found something we love and want to buy but the 4% (!) stamp duty could mean the difference between getting it and not being competitive in this highly competitive area. We may need to wait another year or two - Urgh!