Instant Access Properties

With mortgage deposits higher for first-time buyers since the credit crunch struck, many investors have been concerned with the upfront costs faced by those seeking to get on the housing ladder.

Stamp duty has attracted attention due to the fact that it has not increased in line with house price inflation. Earlier this week Halifax Estate Agents revealed that first-time buyers had to pay the tax in 99 per cent of local authority areas. It calculated that had the tax risen in line with house price inflation since 1993 the one per cent band would now be £191,000 rather than £125,000, while the higher bands for three and four per cent duty would have risen from £250,000 and £500,000 to £720,000 and £1.44 million respectively had they been linked the same way since their introduction in 1997.

Similarly, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that had the stamp duty one per cent threshold risen with house prices since 1997 the bar would now be set at £171,000. It called for a higher threshold still - £250,000 - a figure also called for by the Home Builders' Federation.

That figure has been in wide circulation since it was adopted by the Conservatives at their party conference last year, ahead of an expected general election, which was then cancelled when the opinion polls shifted away from Labour. The specific detail of their plan was that the £250,000 level should apply only to first-time buyers, targeting those seen as in need of most help.  Earlier this week the Times speculated that Mr Darling might steal what had turned out to be a popular policy.

Yet no such thing has occurred. The sole stamp duty move made by the chancellor was to allow those in shared ownership to postpone paying the tax until their level of equity reached 80 per cent. 

Not surprisingly given their calls for major change, the industry has reacted negatively. Abbey director of mortgages Nici Audhlam-Gardiner said the move for shared owners was "welcome" but added that "the government should be doing more" to aid the majority of new entrants to the market. 

If Ms Audhlam-Gardiner was disappointed, National Association of Estate Agents chief executive Peter Bolton King was furious. Labelling the situation "taxation gone mad", he described the doubling of stamp duty revenue from first-time buyers as a "gravy train", concluding: "This was an opportunity for the chancellor to give the housing market the boost it really needs to keep the market moving but he has failed the British homeowner again."

Mr Darling may argue that his budget has offered help for a number of needy people to get on the housing ladder, with additional land being released to build another 70,000 homes and extra help for key workers to get on the ladder by reducing the proportion of the property they have to pay for. But the pressure over stamp duty may yet increase, which could yet bring about change next year, when a general election will be closer and the government will hope it has more scope for tax cuts.