Estate agent David Jones of Allan Morris & Jones takes a look at the property market now the rush to avoid a higher stamp duty bill is over.

It happens after every major budget change where extra tax costs are involved when buying a home. There is a stampede to complete purchases before the tax axe falls. Most notable was when double tax relieve (MIRAS - Mortgage Interest Relief At Source) was removed on mortgages for unmarried couples in August 1988. This resulted in an average of two years’ worth of transactions being squeezed into a twelve month period - and a sharp rise in house prices.

Sadly it also heralded a slump in activity the following year with all the negative knock-on effects to allied areas of the economy. Governments should see these things coming but they never seem to.

We have just witnessed a mini-stampede from buyers of second and buy-to-let homes pushing through their purchases before the April 1st deadline when higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) were imposed - a hefty additional 3% rate of tax which caught the market completely by surprise when announced by the Chancellor.

Of course everyone in the property industry could have easily forecast this rush to complete purchases before the deadline. And once again we can predict the outcome. Those who were serious about buying a second home or investment property will have finalised their purchases. That leaves those potential buyers who were not so serious. This group will take a little time to take stock and get used to the extra cost of buying - while some will decide not to purchase at all. This may leave something of a vacuum in the market for some months to come.

The property market doesn’t tend to like vacuums, so a number of things will happen. There will be fewer motivated buyers competing with each other for certain types of property. It is therefore likely that asking prices for investment-type properties will come under pressure because of this new extra cost of purchase.

But the byproduct of this is that for the first time in years first-time buyers should have a window of opportunity to buy at a sensible price with less risk of being priced out of the market by cash buyers and professional investors. Given the ongoing low interest rates, there is little doubt in my mind that now is the perfect time to enter the market for those with a deposit and an in-principle mortgage in place.

Every cloud has a silver lining. After the gold rush this is now finally the time for first-time buyers to strike it rich by getting on the property ladder.