1st time buyer. Should I wait till after 1st April stamp duty increase?

[Mougly]

I'm looking to buy my first property, 2-3 bedroom house in east London. There is hardly anything left to buy within my budget at the moment (£350-375000)
.Do you think the new stamp duty on 1st April will discourage buy to let investors and free up houses for 1st time buyers?
.Do you think the inflated prices will go down a bit? Everyone is rushing it through before the deadline.
50 people have come to each viewing in the last weeks offering 60 000k + !
Been searching for clues online but all articles on the topic are directed towards investors.

I bloody hope it will I'm a FTB too and 2 decent ones in my small budget have been sold to investors before I can even view them

Doubt prices will come down everyone is rushing to save money...but the demand will still be there so prices will stay same!

It's now almost March so the chances of anyone completing a chain by 31 March is slim. So if there will be any difference in numbers or prospective buyers and price then it should already be showing.

Yes: 3% surcharge; crisis in the Far East markets; uncertainty over Europe will all combine from this point (as pp said, little chance of completing before April unless you buy in next couple of days at auction) to lower demand and make prices more flexible.

I don't really buy all this BTL mad rush causing prices to spiral talk. On £350k the BTLer has to pay £10,500 extra after April - why would they be outbidding people by £60k to save £10k?

I've asked myself that very question - but there does seem to be some collective madness at play. Look at recent auction results plus I had personal experience of a BTLer paying over asking price (£25,000 over initial offer) in order for me to guarantee completion before April - she would have had to pay only an extra c £15k after April. I can only speak for London but the maths has amazed me here.

Total derail but where on earth in East London are you hoping to buy a 3 bedroom house for 375k? East Ham?

Genuine question.

Lalalonglegs that is indeed madess. 30 seconds sitting down with a calculator rather than frenzied bidding and the could have saved a fortune!

wait til after april...

www.hamhigh.co.uk/property/should_you_try_and_buy_to_let_before_april_1_1_4427669

Thanks for all the feedback! I think the new stamp duty will hike up the rental market if anything. lalalonglegs I've seen a few chain free houses with developers queing around the block. Makes no financial sense to overpay but the FTB are also pushing prices up trying to outbid BTL with help from bank of mum and dad as the normal bank would deny them mortgage, tell them the house is overpriced. Happens a lot these days apparently. maybebabybee I've been looking in Manor Park, few left but total dumps that need a lot of work.

We've just had an offer accepted on a 2 bed flat with a garden that needs a refurb in South Norwood - it was on the market for 2 weeks before we viewed it and I have to say I'm surprised we managed to get it and that it didn't go to a developer. We paid asking price which seems pretty decent in this part of London!

I did wonder whether we'd snagged it because developers are staying away - particularly since it's in that tricky £251 - 275k bracket.

Yes thought it might be somewhere in that vicinity - my neck of the woods! Where I grew up, anyway.

Savills has put an extra auction on because of the amount of buyers trying to buy at the moment. It's on 2nd March so completion 28 days later will be before the tax deadline.

I think btlers will die down a bit, but I think it'll still be a busy market for a while because of the pent up demand of ordinary buyers who can't buy in this frenzied market at the moment.