Press Room
Budget: Darling does little to help first-time home buyers
Given the current state of the UK housing market, Alistair
Darling has done little in today's budget to appease the woes of
the average first-time home buyer desperate to get onto the
property ladder.
A small reprieve was given to buyers of shared ownership
properties, who will only pay stamp duty land tax (SDLT) once they
have acquired 80% of the property ownership, unless they elect to
pay SDLT upfront. This proposed amendment does little for the
millions of first time home buyers that do not fall into the shared
ownership category, currently trying purchase their first home.
Karen Campbell, head of Stamp Taxes at Grant Thornton, says,
"SDLT is the best weapon the Government has at its disposal in
helping people onto the property ladder, but the Treasury has
continued to neglect the aspirations of the middle classes and drag
more revenue out of struggling first home-buyers."
"The mortgage market has become an unfriendly place. Only 50,300
mortgages were taken out by house buyers across the UK in January,
the lowest number since the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)
started its records in 2002. First-time home buyers are faced with
tighter lending conditions on loans and banks are requiring larger
deposits than before - all of which adversely affects first-time
buyers and home-movers alike."
Campbell adds, "Granting an exemption to shared ownership
homeowners, only after they own 80 per cent of their home, does not
apply to the majority of the first time home-buying population. As
it is, SDLT is still adding to the difficulties of getting on the
property ladder," says Campbell.