Call to reform stamp duty

The ONS has revealed that the average UK house price reached £250,000 in December, tipping thousands of properties into the 3% stamp duty bracket. The news has prompted calls for the levy to be reformed in next month’s Budget. The ONS said house prices in December were 5.5% higher across the UK compared with a year earlier, driven by a 12.3% increase in London. According to analysis by Grant Thornton, the money the Treasury takes from residential stamp duty is expected to triple to £14bn by the end of the decade thanks to rising house prices. It added that a cliff-edge effect at stamp duty thresholds also helps inflate the amount taken by the Treasury. The rate rises from 1% to 3% at £250,000, leaving buyers a bill that leaps from £2,500 to £7,500.