Barclays issues £6,512 warning to UK households amid 'missed deadline'

One in eight buyers say they will pull out if unable to complete before the 1 st April deadline, the bank has found.

Barclays has issued a £6,000 warning to people who risk MISSING the stamp duty deadline following a rule change. One in eight buyers say they will pull out if unable to complete before the 1 ^st April deadline, the bank has found.

Barclays has announced: "Missing stamp duty deadline to cost homebuyers £6,512 as mortgage demand surges in race for completion." Barclays mortgage data shows that average monthly completions have increased 26 per cent in the wake of the Autumn Budget when the changes were announced. This is largely driven by a 59 per cent surge in first-time buyer purchases, whose share of completions has risen seven percentage points, from 29 per cent to 36 per cent.

Sian McIntyre, Managing Director of Mortgages and Savings at Barclays, said: "Our latest data indicates that prospective buyers are adapting their behaviour to get ahead of some of the volatility in the market.

READ MORE State pensioners born urged to avoid £824 act which is 'waste of money'

"Encouragingly, amidst rising house prices, uncertainty around interest rates, and the upcoming changes to stamp duty, consumer confidence in the housing market is staying the course.

“Renters are still determined to overcome barriers to homeownership, with this resilience testament to the value individuals place on investing in property. We have several products like Barclays Springboard Mortgage and Mortgage Boost which can help first timers make that step onto the ladder.”

Will Hobbs, Managing Director at Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, said: “The UK’s housing market continues to unevenly find its feet after the turbulence of the pandemic. Much of the step change in interest rates of the past few years has now been digested by households and the geography of demand has settled a little further.

“Even though the cyclical picture for the UK remains a little sluggish on the evidence of incoming data, we continue to see the outlook as better set than feared.” The tax grab will mean nine in 10 movers will be pulled into paying the tax, up from just above half today, analysis by estate agent Hamptons shows.

The 575,000 homes going through the legal completion process represents a large proportion of Rightmove’s prediction of 1.15 million final transactions for the whole of 2025. Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said: “The big milestone in England is the stamp duty deadline."