Autumn Budget Lowdown

21 November 2022

The Autumn budget was announced by Jeremy Hunt last week, it focused on 3 key areas stability, growth and public services.

We have summarised a few of the main points:

Tax

- Personal allowance will stay at £12,570 until 2028

- Higher rate tax threshold will stay at £50,271 until 2028

- Additional rate tax will be reduced from £150,000 to £125,140

- The allowance for dividends that is tax free will be reduced to £1,000 in 2023, and then reduced again to £500 in 2024

- Annual Exempt Amount for Capital Gains Tax will be reduced to £6,000 from £12,300 in April 2023 and then again to £3,000 in April 2024

- Employers NIC frozen until 2028 and employment allowance will remain at its new level of £5,000 until March 2026

- Electric vehicles will not be exempt from vehicle excise duty from April 2025

- Previously announced cuts on Stamp Duty will remain but only until 31 March 2025

Minimum Wage

- The new hourly national minimum wage will increase from 1^st April 2023, the new amounts are as follows:

Apprentices - £5.28

Age 16-17 - £5.28

Age 18-20 - £7.49

Age 21-22 - £10.18

23 and over - £10.42

This is still below the ‘real living wage’ which is £11.95 in London and £10.90 outside of London.

Benefits

Pensions, universal credit, disability benefits and other means tested benefits will increase in line with inflation by 10.1% in April 2023.

The whole budget can be read on the gov website

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Homebuyers in Stamp Duty Sprint Before April Hike

by PH186232 • 20 February 2025

With the 1st April deadline looming, its reported that 550,000 homebuyers are racing to complete purchases before stamp duty jumps back to its 2022 levels. We have read that sales awaiting completion are up 25% from last year, with an average five-month wait putting pressure on buyers to beat the deadline. Currently, first-time buyers pay no stamp duty on homes up to £425,000 when purchasing a property worth up to £625,000, but from 1 st April, that drops to £300,000. The upper limit will also fall from £625,000 to £500,000. It's not just the first-time buyers taking a hit, currently stamp duty is only owed on amounts over £250,000, however from 1 st April, only the first £125,000 will be exempt. Despite the cost increase, it looks like most buyers are still pressing ahead, with some even renegotiating offers to offset the hike. According to our research, regardless of the impending cost increases, property experts such as Rightmove are predicting the demand to stay strong; especially if interest rates continue to fall. With mortgage rates already dipping below 4%, we believe buyers remain hopeful for a more affordable market ahead.