More first-time buyers are having to pay stamp duty on their home purchase
As house prices continue to rise more first-time buyers (FTB) are having to pay stamp duty on the purchase of their properties, just 26% of FTB’s in 2016 were able to buy properties worth under the stamp duty threshold (£125k), that is down from 47% of FTB’s 10 years earlier, according to data from the Yorkshire Building Society. These figures go to show that the proportion of properties available to first-time buyers under the stamp duty threshold has almost halved in 10 years.
The stamp duty threshold was last increased to £125,000 in 2006 to keep pace with house price inflation, no further changes to this threshold outside of Scotland have been made since, despite the significant house price growth that has taken place over that period.
The Yorkshire Building Society is calling on Chancellor Philip Hammond to make changes to the stamp duty tax in the upcoming budget, believing that stamp duty should be the responsibility of the seller.
Andrew McPhillips, chief economist at Yorkshire Building Society, said: “In its present form, stamp duty does not suit today’s housing market – it pushes up costs for those looking to buy, exacerbating affordability issues in a market where prices have vastly outpaced wage growth.
“Levying the charge against sellers rather than buyers will help to reduce costs for first-time buyers, helping more people to get on the property ladder. It would also help those moving up the property ladder, enabling them to move to a more suitable property and potentially freeing up smaller homes for first-time buyers to purchase.”
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