Stamp duty measure 'help all facets of the property market'

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 09:35:40 GMT

The new stamp duty threshold of £250,000 for first-time buyers will help all facets of the property market, according to one expert.

Helen Adams, managing director of FirstRungNow, says: "If they help first-time buyers in this way, it helps to turn property over all the way up the chain."

However, despite this being a positive move for the market as a whole, Ms Adams states that it does not address the issue of affordability when it comes to raising the necessary deposit to purchase a home.

Additionally, she advises it will be difficult to define exactly who is a first-time buyer and who is not when one person in a shared occupancy situation may have already owned a home in the past.

When detailing the new threshold at Wednesday's (March 24th) Budget announcement, chancellor Alistair Darling stated that the measure will mean nine out of ten first-time buyers will now avoid paying stamp duty altogether.

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