Government urged to address stamp duty

10-Mar-2008

First-time buyers may be interested to learn that one of the UK's largest lenders is calling on the government to raise stamp duty thresholds to more accurately reflect house price inflation.

Latest data suggests that it may be beneficial for the first-time buyer to look north, as stamp duty is paid almost everywhere in southern England.

According to figures, the average first-time buyer paid stamp duty in 2007 in 99 per cent of local authorities (LAs) in the south, as opposed to 42 per cent of LAs in the north.

Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax, commented: "Stamp duty has again become an issue for first-time buyers because the stamp duty thresholds have not kept pace with house price inflation.

"First-time buyers in the south are most likely to pay but so too are a growing percentage in the north."

He added that the government has raised the one per cent threshold in recent years but maintained that "more needs to be done".

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