Local News
Wednesday November 29 | 2017
NEWS
7
Stamp duty change will help young buyers but other measures needed
Business as usual during centre’s redevelopment
cent deposit to secure a mortgage, £5,000 off £30,000 is a significant amount.” Benefits to first time buyers do not stop there. Those spending up to £500,000 will also benefit as the first £300,000 of the price will not be subjected to tax. The move is predicted to save the average first time buyer £1,660, and will cost the Treasury an estimated £3.2billion over the next five years. Previously the tax was paid on all purchases above £125,000. Mark Sparrow, sales manager at Wood & Pilcher in the High Street, Tunbridge Wells, said: “It would be churlish not to welcome the abolition. “It is to be encouraged, but the only way it will work in the long term if it is deployed alongside other measures, such as more house building, as there is not enough housing and flats in Tunbridge Wells. Most young people want to live near the town centre.”
LIBRARY books and museum artefacts will still be accessible to the public for the two year period it takes to create the new £12million Tunbridge Wells Cultural and Learning Hub. The Town Hall has pledged to keep the services available when the library and museum, along with the Adult Education Centre, are closed from the end of next year, although decisions have still to be taken on where those services will be located.
UNSURPRISED Robert Jacobs of Savills estate agency
By William Mata will@timesoftunbridgewells.co.uk FIRST time buyers and estate agents this week welcomed the abolition of stamp duty on homes sold to first time buyers but warned it needs to be ‘deployed alongside other measures’ to boost the local market. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his Budget [Wednesday November 22] that the tax will be immediately abolished for all properties up to £300,000 bought by first time buyers. Robert Jacobs, head of residential sales at Tunbridge Wells estate agents Savills, said: “Any boost for those trying to get onto the property ladder has to be a good thing. “For those looking to buy their first home for £300,000, the previous stamp duty rate would have been £5,000. So if you are saving for a 10 per
buyers are almost always people who earn their money in London and choose to live in Tunbridge Wells, usually in their mid-20s. “People have still got to save money, but this saving can pay for legal bills and it is a significant amount.”
‘The market has seized up due to a perceived weak Government and uncertainty around Brexit’
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned the move could drive house prices up and leave current home owners as the real beneficiaries. Mr Sparrow commented: “That is a possibility and has happened in the past, but that is not the nature of these things now.” Simon Spare, director of Thompson Spare estate agents also in High Street, Tunbridge Wells, said: “In the short term Commuters it will help the housing market which Mr Sparrow said 20 per cent of the has seized up a lot due to the perceived properties on the estate agent’s books weak Government and uncertainty around Brexit. cost less than £300,000. These are typically one-bedroom “Prices are starting to stagnate, and there is a lot of downward pressure and we apartments costing under £200k, are suffering because of it. two-bed apartments which cost up to “However, the move is more £250k and red brick Victorian ambiguous than at first glance. houses which can cost up WOOD & PILCHER’S to £300,000. This might help sellers and affect Mark Sparrow He added: “First time the market in different ways.”
CASE STUDY: ‘YOU CAN’T GET MUCH FOR YOUR MONEY UNDER £300,000’ POTENTIAL first time buyer Jacob Tassaker, 28, is hoping to find a home with partner Scarlett Attwood, 25 (pictured), and leave their current rented property in Rusthall. The business development manager is negotiating a move to a three-bedroom cottage in Wadhurst and said the stamp duty abolition could save the pair around £5,000. “We had a feeling there might be potential for this in the budget so held out paying any sort of
solicitor fee. But you can’t get much for your money under £300k in Tunbridge Wells. “We started looking at Wadhurst because it needed to be somewhere with a station but also near to Tunbridge Wells that was less expensive. It was quite a long process of looking. “It is still difficult but this has definitely made things easier. I don’t know how it will affect the economy but I am happy because I benefit from it.”
EXPERT OPINION TONY PORTER, director of Sevenoaksbased Regalpoint Homes comments: “The decision is ground-breaking for house hunters and house-builders alike, hopefully making it much easier for firsttime buyers to commit to purchasing a property.” ELLIOT CASTLE, founder of We Buy Any Home adds: “This measure gives a helping hand to those looking to buy their first property and overall it is a step in the right direction to encourage fluidity in the property market.”
Continuation A spokesman from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) said: “All services will be maintained during the development. “However, some disruption is to be expected and the project is exploring the best way to provide services throughout the building and refurbishment works. “We are exploring options for delivery of an interim combined museum and library offer and are committed to ongoing outreach work during the closure period.” TWBC estimate the hub will open in early 2021, subject to a successful grant application from Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund. Multi-purpose building The Camden Centre in Market Square will be open as normal during the redevelopment with library and museum staff likely to be re-homed there. CLOSURE Tunbridge Wells library will be transformed