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'Damage' Warning as MPs Make New Call for Stamp Duty Change
The committee said a consultation should examine alternatives, as first-time buyers now pay no stamp duty only up to £300,000.
- The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee has urged the Government to reform stamp duty to help first-time buyers access the property market, as chairwoman Florence Eshalomi noted homeownership rates in England have declined over the last 20 years.
- Skyrocketing house prices and slow wage growth have deteriorated affordability in England, with the report stating stamp duty "puts barriers in front of people seeking to buy a new home," reducing homeownership accessibility and damaging the economy.
- The nil rate threshold for first-time buyers shrank from £425,000 to £300,000 in April 2025, while the zero rate threshold for home movers halved from £250,000 to £125,000, making the property ladder harder to reach.
- Consultations on potential alternatives should launch by the end of 2026, with Henry Jordan, group director of mortgages at Nationwide Building Society, suggesting any review must create a system that "enables people to move home easily."
- Delivering 1.5 million new homes remains vital to the Government's housing strategy, though the committee cautioned there are "no easy solutions" to affordability challenges without complementary supply-side measures and broader property tax reform.
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Four ways Burnham could replace stamp duty
MPs have called on the Government to reform stamp duty or scrap it entirely to help get first-time buyers on the housing ladder. In a report published on Tuesday, the cross-party Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said that the tax was putting “barriers in front of people seeking to buy a new home” and “must not be maintained in its current form”. With the country potentially about to get a new prime minister if Greater Manchest…
·London, United Kingdom
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Total News Sources21
Leaning Left4Leaning Right2Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution40% Left, 40% Center
Bias Distribution
- 40% of the sources lean Left, 40% of the sources are Center
40% Center
L 40%
C 40%
R 20%
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