CML: Thousands benefit from stamp duty holiday

Posted: 12 Nov 2009 10:10:18 GMT

An estimated 132,500 house purchase mortgage transactions have avoided stamp duty as a result of the tax threshold being raised last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

New data from the organisation has revealed that in September alone one-third of first-time buyers escaped paying a one per cent levy on their property purchase due to the so-called stamp duty holiday.

The government raised the tax-free threshold to all properties bought for under £175,000 last year as the recession took hold in the UK.

Chancellor Alistair Darling then extended the tax break until the end of this year during his Budget speech in April. From the start of 2010, only properties purchased for less than £125,000 will avoid stamp duty.

National Association of Estate Agents president Gary Smith said reducing the threshold could prompt an "unwelcome pause" in the housing market at the beginning of next year.

"We can only hope that common sense will prevail and that the government will raise the lowest level at which stamp duty will apply to £175,000 for an indefinite period," he remarked.


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