Town hall chiefs urge stamp duty shift to help first-time buyers

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The body, which represents town halls in the capital, wants the one per cent bracket to run from £250,000 to around £400,000, after which buyers would pay three per cent.

Buyers currently pay one per cent stamp duty on properties sold for £125,000-£250,000 and three per cent on properties priced between £250,000 and £500,000, after which the top four per cent rate kicks in. With the average London property selling for £330,000, or nine times the average income, the added cost of stamp duty is putting off many first-time buyers. Buyers in the capital stump up an average £10,000 in stamp duty - more than anywhere else in the country.

Under the London Councils plan, low- and middle-income families would be offered a 50-50 "rent-free" shared ownership scheme to get them into their own homes. It is also proposed to take a proportion of stamp duty to help build more affordable housing. Housing spokesman Jamie Carswell said: "We want to see stamp duty cut for firsttime buyers to give them a leg-up."