Following consultation between the government and members of the public, Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell said Labour wanted to provide more help for people to get on the housing ladder and was looking at “reform of stamp duty, including a blanket exemption for first-time buyers”.
This would mean new buyers would no longer pay the 1 per cent duty to the Treasury on homes worth between £60,000 and £250,000.
Jowell, who is playing a key role in drawing up Labour’s next manifesto, said: “A whole generation of young people, and even couples with two incomes, are unable to get a foot on the housing ladder.
“While this is especially a problem in and around London, it is increasingly a problem in other parts of the UK as well.”
Kerry Hanson, senior economist at Nationwide Building Society, said: “The changes in the marketplace have caused major problems for new buyers in terms of affordability. As the majority of first-time buyers purchase properties below £250,000, bringing the threshold up to this limit would be of great benefit.”
Ruth Whitehead, principal of Ruth Whitehead Associates, said: “This is a very expensive tax and is stopping all types of people from purchasing properties, not just first-time buyers. A modest house costs more than £250,000 these days. Nobody should be paying stamp duty.”
