First time buyers see 10% of homes exceed IHT threshold

25-Sep-2006

In addition, first time buyers who are planning to inherit property will find themselves two and a half times more likely to be subject to IHT than five years ago, data from Halifax shows.

This translates as 1.4 million English homes that are valued above the current IHT threshold, while Halifax predicts that the figure will more than double by 2020 to 3.5 million, or 20 per cent of all English property.

Tim Crawford, economist at Halifax, urged the government to raise the inheritance tax threshold.

"Doing so would allow for the significant increase in property prices over the past decade," he said.

Meanwhile, Bernard Clarke, a spokesperson for the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said the group expects to see house price inflation continuing.
First time buyers with an inherited property worth over £285,000 are subject to the tax.

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