Of the 331,899 first-time buyer loans taken out between the start of the stamp duty holiday on 24th March 2010 and the end of 2011, 89% were for properties priced under £250,000.
Over this period, 286,299 first-time buyers bought a stamp duty free property, with 159,872 benefitting from the stamp duty holiday by buying their first home priced between £125-250,000. This is half (50%) of all of those first-time buyers who bought a home over the past two years who would otherwise have been liable to pay the additional tax.
- Property Price: Under £125K
Number of transactions: 126,427
- £125-175K: 90,027
- £175-250K: 69,845
- £250-500K: 30,026
- £500K+: 5,574
TOTAL: 321,899
FTB Property Prices
Average first-time buyer property prices are under the normal stamp duty threshold of £125,000 in eight of the 12 UK regions, meaning that the majority of FTBs across the UK are still able to buy a home without having to pay the additional tax. First-time buyer house prices are lowest in the North East (£100,112) and highest in London (£268,454).
Average FTB house prices by region
- Region: North East
Average FTB house price: £100,112
- Northern Ireland: £104,203
- Yorkshire & Humberside: £110,036
- Wales: £112,157
- North West: £112,411
- East Midlands: £115,275
- West Midlands: £121,324
- South West: £152,058
- East of England: £161,482
- South East: £182,398
- London: £268,454
United Kingdom: £153,755
Peter Dockar, Head of Mortgages at HSBC commented:
"We have seen a 20 per cent increase in approvals for first-time buyer loans in the first six weeks of the year as they rush to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.
"With the deadline fast approaching, we will continue to offer a helping hand to first-time buyers. As well as offering a number of competitive deals for customers with as little as 10% deposit, we have also committed to making £3billion available to first-time buyers in 2012 whilst also offering a number of fee-free mortgages to help keep upfront costs down."
Fast Facts on Stamp Duty - Tax Year 2010-11
- HMRC received £4billion on residential property transactions in stamp duty land tax in the tax year 2010-11.
- This was £2.6 billion or 40% less than the peak in 2007-08 (£6.7 billion) but £1billion or 37% higher than the recent trough of £3billion in 2008-09.
- The amount of stamp duty (SDLT) revenue generated by properties under £250,000 has halved since 2002 to just over half a billion.
- London yielded the highest amount of stamp duty in 2010-11, worth £1.4billion in revenue.
- Prime London councils Westminster (£229million) and Kensington and Chelsea (£219 million) yielded the most stamp duty in the UK.
- Outside of the capital, the South yielded the highest stamp duty revenue, with Elmbridge in Surrey yielding £51million alone.
