When does the stamp duty holiday end and what will the impact be?
The stamp duty holiday comes to an end soon (Picture: Getty)  The stamp duty tax holiday was introduced last year by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to stimulate the property market during the pandemic. Stamp Duty, otherwise known as Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), is a tax on property or land bought in England and Northern Ireland. Youll have to pay it if your purchase costs over a certain price. The rules are different for other areas of the UK. If youre buying property or land in Scotland, youll have to pay a Land and Buildings Transaction Tax instead of stamp duty. If you purchased a house in Wales and the sale was completed on or after April 1, 2018, you will instead pay Land Transaction Tax. The Stamp Duty holiday in its current form will end on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. The stamp duty holiday ends on June 30 (Picture: Getty)  However, the chancellor has provided an extension with a reduced threshold of 250,000 until September 30, 2021. After this date ends, the SDLT thresholds will be:  125,000 for residential properties  150,000 for non-residential land and properties. The temporary holiday on stamp duty applies to the first 500,000 of property sales across England and Northern Ireland. This means that anyone completing on the sale of a main residence costing up to 500,000 will not pay any stamp duty. Properties exceeding 500,000 are only taxed on the value exceeding that threshold. In Scotland and Wales, the threshold on a primary residence has increased to 250,000. To work out how much stamp duty you might have to pay on a property, MoneySavingExpert has a Stamp Duty Calculator that accounts for the changes in government policy. The stamp duty holiday has had a significant effect on house prices and the number of homes being sold. Land Registry data shows house prices rose by 10% year-on-year in March to reach an average of 256,000. Sale numbers also spiked, with figures from HM Revenue & Customs showing 118,000 people moved home this April. The tax break coming to an end will undoubtedly cause some changes in the property market. Mortgage expert Martyn James of Resolver explained to Metro.co.uk that the end of the stamp duty holiday may bring a drop in house prices. Mr James said: Most of the experts I speak to expect to see a drop in prices after the holiday ends. So what you save in stamp duty might be lost in  say  a 3% drop in the value of a 300,000 home a few months later. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video  The housing market continues to confound people though  but there are legitimate concerns that property simply wont continue to rise endlessly. I believe we need to start viewing property as something to live in long term again rather than an investment. If you plan is to sell up and move on in three years, then you may just find the market too overheated.  However first-time home buyers are unlikely notice a difference at all. First-time buyers in England and Northern Ireland wont make any tax savings once the threshold is reduced to 250,000 on July 1 because people buying their first home already benefit from a stamp duty threshold of 300,000, which was introduced in 2017. This allowance means most first-time buyers already dont pay any stamp duty, unless theyre buying homes in more expensive areas. Data from the Land Registry shows first-time buyers in England pay an average of 228,000, well below the 300,000 tax threshold. MORE : Best deals on new homes including Help To Buy, stamp duty savings and perks  MORE : Mum renovates 80s house in three months with just 1,550 and adds 90,000 to the property value  Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  Share your views in the comments below