Rightmove comments on stamp duty and the budget

Rightmove PLC, the UK ’s number one property website, issued a press release following yesterday's disappointing budget by Alistair Darling. According to Rightmove, the decision to maintain stamp duty thresholds at the current level, means that nearly 50% of the UK’s current housing stock on the market come with a stamp duty fee of up to £2,500 attached. Over 25% of UK properties currently for sale come with a fee of up to £15,000. Only 16% of all homes on the market are priced under £125,000, and exempt from from the tax.

Rightmove co-founder Miles Shipside suggested that the Chancellor missed a "real opportunity to help First Time Buyers" and suggested that the stamp duty exemption threshold should have been raised "by a mere 4% to £130,000". If this were to happen, Shipside argues that first time housing buyers would have had access to an extra 14,211 properties currently for sale.

With tightening mortgage lending criteria, First Time Buyers are finding it hard enough to get onto the property ladder. Some saving on Stamp Duty would have helped them raise the larger deposit that is now a necessary prerequisite of getting onto the housing ladder.
In the buoyant market of previous years, sellers would have benefited from being able to raise prices as a result of buyers having more money at their disposal. In the current flat market, First Time Buyers would likely have benefited from all the savings the Chancellor would have handed to them."