Good evening / 06.09.08
Consumer Home
Consumer Home
22 March 2006
Homebuyers are paying more in stamp duty as the average price of a detached house rises above the £250,000 threshold in six regions.
Average house prices are rising above the threshold of £250,000, at which stamp duty is paid at three per cent, in six regions in the UK: the north-west, west Midlands, the east of England, the south-east, south-west and London, says the Halifax.
Only London had an average household price above the three per cent threshold five years ago, according to the Halifax, with total UK residential stamp duty tax three times as high in 2004/5 (£5.5 billion) than in 1999/2000 (£1.8 billion).
Group economist at the Halifax, Tim Crawford, said: "The higher stamp duty thresholds have not changed in more than eight years, even though property prices have increased by 150 per cent over this period.
"More and more properties are falling into the three per cent and four per cent nets. As a result, the amount of stamp duty revenue raised on properties valued at more than £250,000 has quadrupled, from £0.9 billion in 1999/2000 to £3.7 billion in 2004/05."
Alliance & Leicester Mortgages called this week for first-time buyers to be exempted from stamp duty in this year's budget, in order to get more potential homeowners on the property ladder.
© Copyright Adfero Ltd
