Conservative Stamp Duty Changes Help 180,000 First-Time Buyers

New Home Keys Lewisham

Recently, new statistics showed that our changes to stamp duty introduced last year have benefited over 180,000 households, helping more people to achieve the dream of home ownership.

We are giving practical help to first-time buyers, reducing the burden that they face in purchasing their first home. Almost every first time buyer – around 95 per cent – will benefit from our changes, with around 4 in 5 paying no stamp duty at all.

Our changes will save the average first-time buyer £2,300.

Our changes to stamp duty are just one of the steps we have taken to fix the housing market, helping people get on the housing ladder and have the security of their own home.

This is fantastic news that first-time buyers in Lewisham are taking advantage of our cut to stamp duty to buy their first home.

‘This comes on top of news last week that we have delivered 526 homes in Lewisham and nationally more homes that in all but one of the last 30 years - helping more people to get on the housing ladder and have a safe and secure home.’

 

  • New statistics show over 180,500 households have been helped on the housing ladder thanks to our stamp duty cut. In Q3 2018 those claiming first time buyers’ relief on stamp duty was 58,800, up 12 per cent on the previous quarter (HMRC, Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax Statistics Commentary and Tables, 21 November 2018, link).

 

  • In total, first-time buyers saved a £142 million this quarter helping to reduce the burden they face when purchasing their first home. This takes the total savings since the scheme’s introduction to £426 million (HMRC, Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax Statistics Commentary and Tables, 21 November 2018, link).

 

  • Our changes will save the average first-time buyer £2,361. 180,400 first-time buyers have benefited from stamp duty cuts by a total of £426 million (HMRC, National Statistics, 21 November 2018, link).

 

We are helping to get more people on the housing ladder:

 

  • Backing families with Help to Buy schemes which have made homeownership a reality for more than 420,000 people. This includes more than 365,400 first-time buyers who are now on the housing ladder thanks to Help to Buy (MHCLG, News Story, 16 August 2018, link).

 

  • Boosting Help to Buy with £10 billion to help more hard working people get a foot on the housing ladder. More than 130,000 completions have already taken place by people using the equity loan, which helps people buy a new build home with only a 5 per cent deposit (MHCLG, Press Release, 2 October 2017, link).

 

  • Delivering over 378,000 affordable homes since 2010, including 257,000 for rent, making home ownership easier for working people. We are going further and supporting councils to build more affordable housing by removing the borrowing cap for councils to build (MHCLG, Press Release, 26 June 2018, link; MHCLG, Press Release, 3 October 2018, link).