Product category:
Tax and National Insurance
News Release from: Alliance & Leicester | Subject: Stamp Duty
Edited by the Insidemoneytalk Editorial
Team on 14 March 2008
Stephen Leonard, Director of mortgages
at Alliance and Leicester comments on
the Budget
Stephen Leonard, Director of Mortgages at Alliance and Leicester comments on today's Budget announcement that the stamp duty threshold will remain the same for the majority of first time buyers:
"We are very disappointed that the Chancellor has taken the decision not to raise the stamp duty threshold, particularly in light of the struggle first time buyers have in trying to get on to the property ladder This is the second year that the threshold has remained the same, yet house prices have continued to rise during this period
This article was originally published on Insidemoneytalk on 23 Feb 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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We welcome the decision to give those buying into shared equity schemes the option not to pay Stamp Duty until they acquire the final 20 per cent of their property, but this will only benefit a small percentage of first time buyers." Well over half (61 per cent) of first time buyers paid stamp duty in January 2008, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
This is a 30 per cent increase in two years - in January 2006, 47 per cent of first time buyers paid stamp duty.
With higher property prices in London and the South East, the proportion paying Stamp Duty at the higher rate was nearly double - from 6 per cent to 11 per cent.
Stephen Leonard continues: "First time buyers are the life blood of the housing market.
The stamp duty threshold of £125,000 is 25 per cent below the average house price for the first time buyer which stands at £167,000 today.
Furthermore, it is likely that many first time buyers - especially in London and the South-East regions where the average first time buyers paid £261,000 and £189,000 respectively - will continue to face the additional financial strain of stamp duty.".
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