Labour stamp duty pledge for first-time buyers

A Labour government would introduce a stamp duty holiday on homes costing up to £300,000, Ed Miliband will announce later today.

Under the plans, Labour would change planning laws to introduce a “first call” policy that would give first-time buyers who have lived in an area for more than three years priority on up to half of local new homes.

It would also introduce a “local first” policy that would stop properties being advertised overseas before they have been publicised in the UK.

In a speech in Stockton, Teesside, the Labour leader will say: “There’s nothing more British than the dream of home ownership, starting out in a place of your own.”

“But for so many young people today, that dream is fading, with more people than ever renting when they want to buy, new properties being snapped up before local people get a look-in, young families wondering if this country will ever work for them.

“That is the condition of Britain today, a modern housing crisis which only a Labour government will tackle.”

Buyers currently pay nothing on the first £125,000 of a home’s value and are then charged on a sliding scale, starting with 2 per cent on the next £125,000 on the next £125,000 and 5 per cent on the following £675,000.

Chancellor George Osborne introduced a two-year holiday on stamp duty, expiring in March 2013. It raised the threshold for first-time buyers to £250,000.