NATIONWIDE the UK's biggest building society has called on the Government to abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers on properties costing up to £150,000.
The society, which has its UK headquarters in Pipers Way, said nearly 75 per cent of all first-time buyers now paid stamp duty, up from just 40 per cent four years ago.
People taking their first step on to the property ladder now paid an average of £1,040 in the tax equivalent to 5.6 per cent of average annual take-home pay.
And it added that it would not be surprising if first-time buyers put down lower deposits in future in order to have enough money to pay their stamp duty, and in some cases they may put down no deposit at all.
Nationwide estimates that revenue from stamp duty has more than trebled during the past four years to £3.6 billion in 2002-03.
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