The autumn statement: stamp duty cuts

As part of his autumn statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has announced that the cuts to stamp duty land tax (SDLT) introduced by Kwasi Kwarteng on 23 September will now remain in place until 2025.

The present rates were previously announced as a permanent measure, but Mr Hunt has altered this to provide for what is, in essence, a three-year holiday.

As a reminder of those changes that came into force on 23 September, the threshold at which SDLT becomes due is now £250,000 (it was previously £125,000), meaning a saving of £2,500 for most buyers above this level.

Of course, as with all previous temporary or permanent measures, the SDLT rates could be subject to further alteration in the intervening years.

For those interested in tracking the alterations to SDLT rates over the last couple of decades (there have been 14 different regimes since SDLT replaced the old stamp duty in 2003!), these are available on the gov.uk website – see more here.