Stamp duty break 'will not help first-time buyers'

Posted: 07 Apr 2010 11:13:38 GMT

The stamp duty breaks announced by Alistair Darling in the Budget last month will not be of any benefit to first-time buyers, an industry figure has claimed.

Paul Holmes, chief executive of Firstrung, believes doubling the stamp duty limit to £250,000 will make little or no difference, as many purchasing their first property aim for something much cheaper.

He states that the majority of first-time buyers who approach his firm for mortgages are nowhere near to raising £250,000 to buy a house, which makes the incentives announced by the chancellor irrelevant to many.

"I think it will make absolutely no difference whatsoever to first-time buyers. If we look at the data the average first-time buyer spends £150,000 on a first-time property, not £250,000," Mr Holmes says.

Despite his claims, moneysupermarket.com recently revealed that since Mr Darling announced the initiative, the website has seen a 15 per cent increase in the number of prospective first-time buyers visiting its mortgage comparison channel.


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