Sellers pushing up prices

Aylesbury, Bucks

Previous value: £250,000
Possible value: £263,500

Some sellers with properties priced just below the old stamp duty thresholds
are considering re-listed homes at higher prices, estate agents said.

Stephen and Layla Jury, who have two children aged one and three (pictured
above), struggled to sell their family home in Aylesbury, Bucks, for the
£263,500 asking price earlier this year. Buyers were reluctant to bid above
£250,000, Mr Jury said, as this was the threshold for three per cent stamp
duty.

The couple accepted an offer at £250,000, but have since been “gazumped”
on their own purchase and are now considering relisting the house at its
original asking price.

Mr Jury, 35, who works for online estate agency eMoov.co.uk, said: “We
are still looking to move and the change in stamp duty will see us save
£3,000 on our next property purchase so with the potential increase in sale
of our house, we are looking at being £15,000 better off if we can sell at
the original asking price.”

New asking prices rise

New Town, Edinburgh

Previous value: £250,000
New value: £285,000

Many houses were listed on Thursday, the day after the Autumn Statement, at
much higher prices than they might otherwise have fetched.

Mark Coulter, founder of Coulters in Edinburgh (pictured above), listed this
second-floor tenement flat in Barony Street in the New Town (on the right of
the property) at £285,000.

A very similar property was listed on Wednesday at £250,000, he said,
indicating that sellers were in line to for tens of thousands of pounds of
gains in some parts.

“I couldn’t have got this on the market on Wednesday at £285,000,
surveyors just weren’t letting similar properties through,” he said. “If
I had listed it above £250,000 it might not have sold – now I’m very
confident.”

Deals pushed through

North Finchley, London

Previous value: £670,000
New value: £675,000

Deals that hung in the balance were agreed, with buyers more able to match
asking prices.

The seller of a house in North Finchley, London, secured an extra £5,000
thanks to the stamp duty reform.

Simon Gerrard, director of Martyn Gerrard estate agents (pictured above next
to the property), said: “On Wednesday morning, a prospective buyer put
in an offer at £670,000, which was turned down.

“However, after the reform of stamp duty was announced, we pointed out
to buyer that they stood to save £3,250 as a result of the changes. They
increased their offer to £675,000, which was accepted.”

Buyers gain confidence

Cannon Street Road, London

Seller gained £2,000

This two bedroom, ground floor conversion apartment in Cannon Street Road,
East London, was on market at £500,000. The buyer’s initial offers, which
were well below asking price, had “no chance” of being accepted,
the agent said. But the stamp duty reform made the difference.

Tony Varghese, of London estate agent Ludlow Thompson, said: “The buyer’s
saving on stamp duty was around £500, but the idea of a saving coupled with
the general feeling of an improvement in the market based on this change,
has convinced him to increase his offer by £2,000 and secure the deal with
the vendor, who happily accepted.”