More than 16,000 first time buyers have saved up to £5,000 per household after stamp duty rates were slashed
MORE than 16,000 first time buyers have made big savings after stamp duty rates were slashed in the Budget.
Theresa May said November's cut meant no stamp duty for 80 per cent of buyers — with savings of up to £5,000 per household.
The PM is due to visit Wokingham in Berkshire to meet householders who have benefited from the change.
Ahead of the visit she said the Government was aiming to “restore the dream of home ownership for people up and down the UK”.
She added: “In the autumn we set out ambitious plans to fix the broken housing market and make sure young people have the same opportunities as their parents’ generation to own their own home.
“This has had an immediate impact, with thousands of people already making savings thanks to our stamp duty cut, and over a million first-time buyers over the next five years are expected to save money that they can put towards a deposit, solicitors’ fees or furniture.”
In the Budget, the Government abolished stamp duty altogether for first time buyer purchases up to £300,000.
They also made it available for the first £300,000 of properties worth up to £500,000, providing help for people in higher value areas like London.
The Government claims more than a million first time buyers are set to benefit in total over the next five years.
It said the move builds on the steps already taken to help young people enter the housing market, including the Help to Buy scheme and introduction of Lifetime Isas.
MOST READ IN MONEY
But Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said it would only drive up prices.
He said: “Cutting stamp duty without the increase in affordable house-building that Labour has promised will only drive up prices, rather than help the millions of young people who want to buy a home of their own.
“The number of young home-owners is in free-fall but under the Tories the number of new low-cost homes for first-time buyers has halved and not a single one of the 200,000 ‘starter homes’ promised has been built.”