The plight of first-time buyers has come under the spotlight again as two research reports claimed half now pay stamp duty while the number of first-time-buyer loans have plummeted to their lowest levels yet.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says despite the decision by the chancellor to raise the threshold from £60,000 to £125,000 in his last two Budgets, 17,200 first-time buyers (50%) paid stamp duty in March, while 44,700 people moving (80%) into a new home also paid the tax. It says there has also been a fall in remortgaging as it accounted for 36% (£10.3bn) of lending in March, 5% less than the previous month and 10% lower than March 2005. As remortgaging has declined, other types of lending, including buy-to-let and further advances, have grown, the CML says. Meanwhile, research c...
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