Dudley Building Society has launched a mortgage aimed at homebuyers who are unlikely to complete before the stamp duty holiday deadline expires next month.

The product is a 3.99 per cent two-year fixed-rate mortgage at up to 80 per cent LTV, with no arrangement fee and a free valuation. It comes with £1000 cashback.

The industry faces a large number of mortgage applications as customers rush to complete purchases before the stamp duty holiday ends on 31 March.

Stamp duty transactions in the last quarter of last year were 43 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2020, according to HMRC data released this week.

Mortgage approvals jumped more than two-and-a-half times in the second half of last year, with a rise in demand that has continued into 2021 seeing house purchases taking over three months to complete, according to a survey by online mortgage broker Trussle last month.

The housing industry had a strong second half to last year after, chancellor Richi Sunak introduced the stamp duty holiday last July, following approvals that had almost ground to a halt last spring due to the pandemic.

Several industry bodies have called for an extension of the stamp duty holiday.

Dudley Building Society commercial director Sam Ward says: “With uncertainty still looming over the stamp duty holiday deadline and a range of potential solutions currently being debated, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new stamp duty product.”

This is a great opportunity for advisers to support clients who would like to get a house purchase through amid the uncertainty surrounding the stamp duty deadline. For those borrowers who may miss out, the £1,000 cashback, included as part of the release of funds, can be used to offset stamp duty payments or anything else the borrower may choose.”