Calls to raise stamp duty threshold
Council of mortgage lenders has called upon the Government to raise to raise the 125′000 pounds stamp duty threshold. People requiring a first time buyer mortgage and 100% mortgages are slowly returning to the market as prices ease.
The next budget would be the perfect opportunity to raise the threshold. This would be welcome news for first time buyers and anyone prepared to take out a 100% mortgage where there is still strong demand to get onto the property ladder.
Michael Coogan, director general at the CML said the Government’s aim to increase home ownership for first-time buyers had failed. He said: “First-time buyers are still relying on the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’. Mortgage payments will start to reduce (in line with expected interest rate cuts), but the main issue for first-time buyers is cobbling together the deposit. Since the credit crunch, 100% mortgages are much fewer in the offering.
The decline in lending is due to funding constraints in the money markets, rather than consumer demand. Current income multiples are between 4 to 4.5 for 100% mortgages and slightly less for first time buyer mortgages dependent upon the deposit being put down.
