Stamp duties ‘hurting homebuyers’

The stamp duties that have to be paid out by homebuyers around the UK are rising at a disproportionately rapid pace and are leaving thousands of people with more money problems to deal with, it has been claimed.

Mortgage borrowers are already taking on a serious debt management burden when they buy a home and the added expense of stamp duty is hurting the pockets of many people around the country, Halifax has suggested.

In fact, homebuyers in almost 29 per cent of all local authorities now face a stamp duty bill that amounts to more than 20 per cent of the typical annual wage in the area, which represents a significant increase in recent years, according to data from Halifax.

“We call on the government to raise all stamp duty thresholds to account for the rise in house prices over the past decade and to index for house price inflation in the future,” said Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax.

A report from Abbey last week claimed that millions of homeowners around the UK are confused about what kind of mortgage deal would best suit their current circumstances.