Buyers will have to pay stamp duty on 93% of properties for sale in England if thee Chancellor does not extend current thresholds in tomorrow’s Budget, research by Leeds Building Society suggests.
Rachel Reeves is expected to allow the more generous thresholds for buyers to lapse at the end of March next year, meaning a far greater number of purchases will be caught by the tax.
The tax-free threshold for all homebuyers is set to return to £125,000 from £250,000 and for first-time buyers to £300,000 from £425,000.
In Yorkshire, buyers currently pay stamp duty on 49% of houses on the market. However, if the thresholds revert back to previous levels, this will increase to 86% of homes.
Leeds estimates that the average first-time buyer renting privately in London would need to save for an extra 12 months to afford their own property if current threshold lapse, on top of the 25.8 years it would likely take them to save the initial average deposit.
The lender says that house prices paid by first-time buyers were 16 times higher in 2022 than in 1982, whilst gross earnings were just seven times higher.
Leeds Building Society deputy chief executive Andrew Greenwood says: “We all know the value that having a place to call home can add to our lives.
“As a mutual, we were set up to help people own their own home and save for their future, creating a sense of belonging in communities across the country.
“We welcome the Labour government’s commitment to social and affordable housing and renewed interest in house building, but our country needs to develop a long-term and joined-up plan to improve stability in the housing market if we are to solve the problem.
“This needs to be a plan focused on delivering more homes, supporting first-time buyers to save for their deposit and extending affordable routes into home ownership.”
