No relief for first-time buyers

Monday, 27 June 2005 12:00 AM

Raising the threshold at which stamp duty is paid has had no effect on the number of first-time buyers entering the housing market, new research shows.

It has been three months since Chancellor Gordon Brown increased the stamp duty nil threshold from £60,000 to £120,000 in a move designed to help first-time buyers.

But according to research by Abbey, 35 per cent of potential first-time buyers want to buy property in the next year, but only one in 20 thinks they will be able to - the same proportions as before the stamp duty threshold was raised.

"Given the recent changes to stamp duty, it's disappointing that confidence amongst first-time buyers has shown no improvement," said Barry Naisbitt, Abbey's chief economist.

However, 15 per cent of first-time buyers would be more likely to buy if the Bank of England lowered interest rates, Abbey discovered.

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