The average number of monthly mortgage completions has increased by 26% in the wake of the Autumn Budget since changes to stamp duty were first announced, data released by Barclays has shown.

The bank said this has largely been driven by a 59% surge in first-time buyer purchases, whose share of completions has risen seven percentage points, from 29% to 36%.

Barclays’ findings, based on an Opinium study of 2,000 respondents, also indicated that confidence in the UK housing market grew to 30% in February, its highest level since October last year. This level was up from 24% in January, despite the upcoming tax changes in England and Northern Ireland.

From 1 April, the Government’s stamp duty changes will kick in which will see the zero rate thresholds for main residences drop from £250,000 to £125,000, and first-time buyer thresholds drop from £425,000 to £300,000.

Homebuyers in England and Northern Ireland on track to miss the looming deadline expect to fork out an extra £6,512 on average for their purchase, resulting in a surge in demand for mortgages.

Changes to the stamp duty bands are also limiting the choice of property stock available to first timers. Barclays data showed that demand for homes above the current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 has steadily declined each month, with completions in this bracket dropping from 21% last October, to 16% last month.

Managing director at Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, Will Hobbs, commented: “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.”

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