Stamp Duty threshold could be raised in Budget

Wednesday, 24 March 2010 11:04

By myfinances.co.uk staff

There is mounting speculation this morning that chancellor Alistair Darling could raise the stamp duty threshold to £250,000 as part of his Budget proposals.

Despite repeatedly saying there would be no pre-election giveaways such an increase would double the level at which stamp duty would become payable. The current threshold is £125,000, which the government reverted to at the end of 2009 following the stamp duty holiday announced in 2008 in which the stamp duty threshold was temporarily raised to £175,000.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said had the threshold been raised last year around 92% of first time buyers and 69% of home movers would have been exempt from the tax.

The cost to the government over a full twelve month period in raising the duty would be around £800m and would effect around 450,000 households.

Nigel Lewis, property expert from propery website FindaProperty.com, welcomed the proposal saying: "We applaud this much sought after change to the stamp duty threshold which will not only benefit first time buyers but also those at other stages of the property ladder in many regions. This is a significant move which will aid the ongoing property market recovery into 2010 and beyond and make a significant difference to the affordability of first time buyers."

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