Labour has promised to cut stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes costing up to 300,000. The pledge is one of a number concerning access to the housing market, with the party also promising to give new buyers first call on half of the homes being built in their area, and to make it harder for foreign investors to snap up properties.
For the first three years of a Labour government anyone buying their first home will not have to pay stamp duty – a tax that is paid by homebuyers when they complete on a property.
This isn’t the first time that new buyers have had their duty waived: in 2010 the then Labour chancellor, Alistair Darling, brought in a two-year break on the tax for first-timers on homes costing up to 250,000.
Prior to that, Darling also waived the duty on properties costing up to 175,000 for 15 months – that applied to all buyers, but as first-timers were most likely to be buying the cheapest homes, they were most likely to benefit.
Changes to the duty made in December 2014 also helped buyers across the market. George Osborne scrapped the previous slab structure, meaning buyers were no longer clobbered with the same tax rate on the whole of the purchase price, as well as reducing the cost for anyone buying a home costing less than 937,500.
via The Guardian
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