More than 240,000 people have been able to achieve their dream of ownership thanks to stamp duty reforms announced by this Government, according to new figures released this week.
The statistics show that in the final months of 2018, first time buyers saved £144 million following changes announced by the Chancellor in the 2017 Budget.
Following the reforms, 8 out 10 first time buyers now pay no stamp duty at all – benefitting almost all first time buyers and providing the security that comes with owning your own home.
Changes to stamp duty are just one of the steps this Conservative government has taken to fixing the broken housing market left by a Labour government, and helping more people take their first steps on the housing ladder and securing their future with their own home.
As a result, more than 500,000 people now own a property due to schemes such as Help to Buy, which helps first time buyers with the cost of the deposit for their new home.
It is fantastic news that first-time buyers in Lewisham are taking advantage of our cut to stamp duty and have taken the steps buy their first home.
Home ownership is no longer a pipe dream for the few as figures show for the first time that the number of people buying their first home is up in a decade for 35-44 year olds. It’s proof that the Conservatives are helping more people to get on the housing ladder and have a safe and secure home.
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Notes
- New statistics show over 241,300 households have been helped on the housing ladder thanks to our stamp duty cut. In Q4 2018 those claiming first time buyers’ relief on stamp duty was 60,700, up 3 per cent on the previous quarter (HMRC, Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax Statistics Commentary and Tables, 31 January 2019, link).
- In total, first-time buyers saved a £144 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 £570 million (HMRC, Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax Statistics Commentary and Tables, 31 January 2019, link).
We are helping to get more people on the housing ladder:
- We’ve helped more than 500,000 people get on the housing ladder through programmes such as Help to Buy. There are more than 1.2 million Help to Buy ISAs offering government bonuses of up to £3,000 on top of savings, and more than 183,000 households have used the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme, which offers buyers up to 20 per cent of a newly built home’s costs so they only need to provide a 5 per cent deposit (MHCLG, Press Release, 30 November 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).
- Building the homes people need, helping more people to get on the housing ladder. Since 2010, we’ve delivered 1.3 million new homes including 394,000 affordable homes and we are investing £5.5 billion to unlock up to 650,000 new homes (HM Treasury, Budget 2018: Housing, 29 October 2018, link).
Whilst Labour stand against home ownership and hit people in their pockets:
- Labour voted against our changes to stamp duty breaking their promise to cut it – making it harder for people to get on the housing ladder. Labour MPs voted against the cut to stamp duty despite the Labour Manifesto promising to ‘cut stamp duty’ in their manifesto (Hansard, Finance Bill (No.2) Division 124, 21 February 2018, link; The Labour Party, Labour’s New Deal on Housing, May 2017, link).
