One in five homes now pay top-rate stamp duty

Posted: 05 Mar 2007 11:21:46 GMT

A fifth of homes in England and Wales are now subject to the highest rates of stamp duty, new statistics from Halifax has revealed

A fifth of homes in England and Wales are now subject to the highest rates of stamp duty, new statistics from Halifax has revealed.

The number of homes valued at £250,000 or more, the threshold at which three per cent stamp duty is due, has grown by 281 per cent in the past five years, the report said.

Across the 2,132 postal districts in England and Wales tracked by Halifax, this means that the number paying the highest rate has grown from 73,403 to 279,408.

"The key factor behind this rise has been the thresholds at which the higher stamp duty rates are levied have not been adjusted since their introduction almost ten years ago," Bank of Scotland economist Tim Crawford told the BBC.

"Bank of Scotland calls on the government to increase the stamp duty thresholds in line with the increase in house prices since the mid-90s and to commit to index linking all the stamp duty thresholds to house price inflation in the future."

© Houseladder Ltd