More than 25,000 first-time buyers in England are set to miss the stamp duty deadline, new data reveals – at a total cost of £34m.
From 1 April, the threshold at which first-time buyers start paying the tax will drop to £300,000 from £425,000 – meaning many more will be liable.
The stamp duty threshold for all other buyers is also changing – the nil rate level will fall to £125,000 from £250,000.
Property website Rightmove‘s analysis found that 74,000 buyers are expected to miss the 31 March deadline – at a collective cost of £142m.
Rightmove’s property market expert Colleen Babcock said she expected a “rush” to meet the 31 March deadline as first-time buyers and home-movers try to avoid paying extra in tax.
“Our numbers show how there is a relatively small, but disproportionately impacted group of first-time buyers who will be caught out by the changing thresholds, highlighting some disparities in the way the current system works,” she said.
Aldi jumps to top of leader board in supermarket wage war
Aldi has unveiled new pay rates that will make its employees the best-paid in the supermarket sector.
The discount retailers will award its store assistants a better-than-expected pay rise from 1 March.
The supermarket will pay all shop workers at least £12.75 an hour nationally, and £14.05 within the M25.
Aldi has also confirmed that pay will rise further to £13.66 nationally, and £14.35 within the M25, based on length of service.
The pay rises puts Aldi ahead of Lidl, which last month announced plans to make its staff the best paid, upping its entry-level hourly wage from £12.40 to £12.75.
That followed a similar decision by Sainsbury’s in January to raise pay by 5% in 2025, taking hourly pay to £12.45 in March and then £12.60 in August.
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