Essex and Bucks commuter belts see huge rise in house hunter inquiries following stamp duty cut

Commuter belt areas surrounding London are particularly benefiting from a surge in house hunter inquiries following last week's stamp duty cut. Credit: PA

Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire commuter belt areas are particularly benefiting from a surge in house hunter inquiries following last week's stamp duty cut.

Rightmove compared home hunters' inquiries about properties in the days following the Government's announcement with the same period the week before. It found that Milton Keynes, Watford, Harrow, Chelmsford and Ilford are among the locations seeing particularly big jumps in buyer inquiries.

Credit: PA

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced last week that in England and Northern Ireland where stamp duty applies, buyers will pay no stamp duty on the first £500,000 of their purchase when they move home.

The measure, which lasts until March 31 2021, temporarily increases the "nil rate" band of stamp duty from £125,000 to £500,000.

Rightmove said the biggest jump in buyer inquiries has been for homes priced just under the threshold at which stamp duty now applies. It has seen a 49% increase in demand for homes priced at £400,000 to £500,000.

Here are the areas with the biggest uplifts in buyer inquiries, according to Rightmove, comparing July 8 to 12 with the same period the week before, with the postcode area and the percentage uplift:

  • 1. MK (Milton Keynes), 136%

  • 2. WD (Watford), 109%

  • 3. HA (Harrow), 103%

  • 4. CM (Chelmsford), 95%

  • 5. IG (Ilford), 91%

  • =6. EN (Enfield), 83%

  • =6. BR (Bromley), 83%

  • 8. W (West London), 80%

  • =9. SG (Stevenage), 78%

  • =9. SN (Swindon) 78%