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First-time buyers bid to beat stamp duty deadline

Monday, 13 February 2012 11:27 AM

The number of loans to first-time buyers in December was up 14 per cent on a year ago as they began to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday that ends in March, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The 18,700 loans advanced in the month were also up seven per cent on November. They were worth a total of £3.2bn, up 10 per cent on November and 21 per cent on December 2010.

The CML said there was also an increase in the proportion of properties (from 50 per cent to 53 per cent) bought by first-timers in the price band currently exempt from stamp duty, making it likely that they are beginning to rush through purchases before the concession ends next month.

However, 2011 as a whole still saw a fall in the number of first-time buyer loans. The total of 193,000 was worth £23.4bn, a fall of four per cent by volume and two per cent by value.

And house purchase loans to movers were down eight per cent by volume and seven per cent by value in 2011.

Paul Smee, CML director general, said: "We have been expecting a flow of first-time buyers onto the market as the stamp duty exemption ends in March; December’s figures appear to show this has now begun."

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The increase in lending to first-time-buyers is expected to be temporary. Image:Thinkstock

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