Thousands of first-time buyers are facing an uphill struggle to get a foot on the property ladder while keeping up with the tax burden on home ownership.
According to a survey of mortgages by Halifax, the average price of a home in London has hit a record £250,000 which has in turn pushed first-time buyers into the three per cent stamp duty bracket.
Young buyers are now having to fork out a £7,500 in tax paid up front, on top of deposits of up to £25,000.
find out how much stamp duty you will pay
Bernard Clarke, spokesperson for the CML said that there was no indication as yet as to whether there will be a change in stamp duty.
He added: “One of the things we have argued for is that stamp duty should be indexed in line with house price inflation because at the moment more and more homebuyers are paying it and the tax burden on home ownership is increasing and some of the worst effects of that are felt by first time buyers.”
Research conducted by the CML also indicates trouble for first-time buyers whose proportion of income spent on servicing their mortgage interest payments rose to 17.9 per cent last year.
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