Mortgage Blog: First-time Buyers Hurry To Beat Stamp Duty Holiday Deadline

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First-time buyers are increasingly returning to the mortgage market

. That's the conclusion to be drawn from new figures from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). Data from the NAEA for January 2012 shows that first-time buyers accounted for the highest proportion of property sales in eight months. Almost one in four buyers are people getting onto the property ladder for the first time, which is great news for the UK housing market.

Experts welcome increase in first-time buyers

The figures from the National Association of Estate Agents showed that first-time buyers accounted for 23% of all house sales in January 2012, up from 21% in December. It's the highest level since May 2011. And the proportion of sales to first-time buyers has now risen for the third consecutive month. Experts have welcomed the figures as great news for the housing market.

Features editor Mr Osborne of whathouse.co.uk says: "First-time buyers are an integral part of the property market. They are often the key, first link in a property chain and, without them, existing homeowners can often find it difficult to move up the property ladder. Seeing more first-time buyers in the property market can only be a good thing for the UK as a whole."
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First-time buyers rush to buy before Stamp Duty holiday

One of the main reasons that the NAEA believe that first-time buyer purchases have risen in recent months is that the Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers is due to end in March. Currently, first-time buyers are exempt from paying one per cent Stamp Duty on homes worth up to 250,000.

Wendy Evans-Scott, president of the NAEA, says: "The NAEA and other property specialists campaigned hard for the Government to introduce the tax exemption to support first-time buyers, and these latest figures certainly suggest that Stamp Duty is a key factor for those on tight budgets purchasing their first home. We are deeply disappointed that ministers have axed this support for a crucial part of the housing market which has benefited so many house hunters in getting onto the property ladder."

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Federation of Property Professionals, agrees that withdrawing the Stamp Duty exemption will deter many first-time buyers. He says: "In a market where perhaps things are slower or there is more available, then clearly if you take people out of the first-time buyer end, then potentially it is going to affect the chain."

by: Keith Osborne

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