This is £6,000 higher than the UK average of around £1,500.
Escalating house prices saw the average price paid by a FTB in London push through the £250,000 barrier for the first time last year, taking it above the 3% tax duty threshold. The average price paid by a FTB in London in 2006 was £250,819 compared to the national average of £151,565.
At the end of 2006, the average price paid by a FTB was above £250,000 in 12 out of 32 London boroughs. In July 1997, when the higher stamp duty thresholds of £250,000 and £500,000 were introduced, no borough had an average house price above £250,000.
Boroughs where the average house price paid by a FTB in 2006 was above the 3% stamp duty threshold include Hackney (£255,967), Tower Hamlets (£262,664), Ealing (£250,527) and Kingston upon Thames (£254,369).
It has now been almost 10 years since the higher stamp duty thresholds - £250,000 and £500,000 – were introduced in July 1997. If these thresholds were increased to reflect the rise in UK house prices since then, the £250,000 and £500,000 threshold would now stand at £680,000 and £1,350,000 respectively.
Martin Ellis, chief economist, commented: "The government's failure to index link stamp duty thresholds to house price inflation means that the typical homebuyer in the capital now faces a tax bill in excess of £7,500 when they buy their first home. This is adding to the already considerable difficulties faced by people trying to get onto the housing ladder. We call on the government to increase the higher thresholds in line with the increase in house prices since 1997 and to commit to index link all the stamp duty thresholds to house price inflation in the future."
