Government rakes in £1bn from housing boom

Kathryn Hopkins
The Times
File photo dated 12/11/07 of residential property in Stratford, east London as the number of people sinking into such severe mortgage debt that they lose their home is expected to continue a trend of "modest improvement" figures released are expected to show. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday November 14, 2013. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) will release repossession figures for the third quarter of this year, after those for the first six months of 2013 showed the lowest half-yearly total since 2007. Ultra-low interest rates and Government schemes such as Funding for Lending and Help to Buy have helped to keep mortgage payments relatively affordable despite other pressures from such things as soaring fuel bills and stagnating wages. Recent figures released by the Bank of England showed that the typical interest rate taken out by borrowers on new mortgages in the second quarter of this year dropped to a new low of 3.47%. See PA story MONEY Repossession. Photo credit should read: Chris Radburn/PA Wire
File photo dated 12/11/07 of residential property in Stratford, east London as the number of people sinking into such severe mortgage debt that they lose their home is expected to continue a trend of "modest improvement" figures released are expected to show. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday November 14, 2013. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) will release repossession figures for the third quarter of this year, after those for the first six months of 2013 showed the lowest half-yearly total since 2007. Ultra-low interest rates and Government schemes such as Funding for Lending and Help to Buy have helped to keep mortgage payments relatively affordable despite other pressures from such things as soaring fuel bills and stagnating wages. Recent figures released by the Bank of England showed that the typical interest rate taken out by borrowers on new mortgages in the second quarter of this year dropped to a new low of 3.47%. See PA story MONEY Repossession. Photo credit should read: Chris Radburn/PA Wire
PA:PRESS ASSOCIATION
Kathryn Hopkins
The Times

Soaring house prices have earned the government nearly £1 billion in extra stamp duty payments every year, research suggests.

About 83 per cent of homebuyers now have to pay stamp duty, compared with just 17 per cent in 1998 when the average stamp duty paid by first-time buyers was £240.

Research from Lloyds Bank calculated that the average homeowner in England and Wales would pay nearly £12,000 in stamp duty during a lifetime, with the figure increasing to £38,000 for homeowners in the capital.

Marc Page, the dircetor of mortgages at Lloyds Bank, calculated that £5.6 billion was paid in stamp duty in the 12 months to March, up from £4.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.

There is no stamp duty on