Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive of the NAEA, comments: “We have long been campaigning for the Government to step in and save the increasingly rare first time buyer before it becomes totally extinct. Our figures reveal that the percentage of new buyers fell to a low of 8.9% last year and, although this figure has now risen slightly to 16% as the market cools off, it is still low and at risk of falling again when house prices rise.
“Although today’s publication contains many initiatives designed to help more people get on the property ladder, the Government is missing one of the most basic steps they could have taken which would immediately help thousands of homebuyers – overhauling the archaic stamp duty system.
“Stamp duty levels have not been amended for over a decade, meaning that the bottom threshold of £60,000 now encompasses almost all properties. If the level had been amended in line with house price inflation, it would now stand at over £125,000 – a much more realistic level in today’s market.
“The power to help thousands more potential first time buyers lies once again in the hands of a Government shy to reduce what is rapidly becoming a tax on moving house.”
