Of the 331,899 first-time buyer loans taken out between the start of the stamp duty holiday on 24 March 2010 and the end of 2011, 89% were for properties priced under £250,000.
Over this period 286,299 first-time buyers bought a stamp duty free property with 159,872 benefitting from the stamp duty holiday by buying their first home priced between £125,000 and £250,000.
This is half of all of those first-time buyers who bought a home over the past two years who would otherwise have been liable to pay the additional tax.
Peter Dockar, head of mortgages at HSBC, said: “We have seen a 20% increase in approvals for first-time buyer loans in the first six weeks of the year as they rush to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.
“With the deadline fast approaching we will continue to offer a helping hand to first-time buyers.
“As well as offering a number of competitive deals for customers with as little as 10% deposit, we have also committed to making £3bn available to first-time buyers in 2012 whilst also offering a number of fee-free mortgages to help keep upfront costs down.”
