UK house prices rose at their fastest annual rate in June since 2004 as buyers rushed to beat the stamp duty deadline, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics.
House prices rose 13.2% in June from a year earlier to £265,668, up from a 9.8% jump in May. Compared with the previous month, house prices were up 4.5%.
The stamp duty holiday, introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak last July to bolster the housing market, was extended from 31 March to the end of June. It meant that no tax needed to be paid on the first £500,000 of property purchases in England and Northern Ireland.
Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “June’s sharp acceleration in house price growth reflected a stampede of buyers aiming to make the most of the elevated stamp duty threshold of £500K, before it fell back to £250K in July.
“We anticipate that house price growth will slow over the coming months, as the impact from the temporary increase in the SDLT threshold fades, particularly once it returns to £125K at the end of September.”
