Stamp duty threshold remains the same

Permalink: Stamp duty threshold remains the same
by Kay Murchie

Chancellor Alistair Darling failed to deliver any exemptions from stamp duty in the Pre-Budget Report in spite of promising to help first-time buyers and increase home ownership.

Increasing property prices have dragged more first-time buyers into the stamp duty net. According to the Government, the average price paid for a home by UK first-time buyers is £167,000, over £40,000 above the lowest stamp duty threshold.

The lack of a change to stamp duty will be disappointing for those hoping for reform. Instead, The Chancellor chose to allow married couples to transfer individual £300,000 inheritance tax allowances, giving them a total tax-free threshold of £600,000.

At the Blackpool party conference last week, the Conservative party promised to abolish stamp duty for 90% of first-time buyers by increasing the threshold to £250,000. Many had hoped The Chancellor would offer similar allowances.

A spokesperson for financial advisers, Grant Thornton, commented that the best weapon the Government had was stamp duty in helping people onto the property ladder, it’s surprising that further assistance to first time buyers has not been offered in the Chancellor’s latest pre-budget report.

The Chancellor has opted to focus on encouraging the building of more new homes and more long-term fixed rate mortgages. Mr Darling said that grants to local authorities for new properties would rise and set a goal of nearly a quarter of a million new homes a year being built by 2016.