Yahoo Finance Conservative stamp duty reforms support thousands onto the housing ladder a week
Stamp duty cuts announced in the Budget are helping 4,000 first time buyers a week to get on the housing ladder, Theresa May has revealed.
The Government announced in its Autumn Budget that first-time buyers will pay no stamp duty on properties worth up to £300,000, or on the first £300,000 of properties worth up to £500,000.
The Prime Minister, speaking ahead of a visit to Wokingham where she will meet families who have benefited from the changes, said that 16,000 first time buyers have taken advantage of the scheme.
She said: "I have made it my personal mission to build the homes this country needs so we can restore the dream of home ownership for people up and down the UK.
"In the autumn we set out ambitious plans to fix the broken housing market and make sure young people have the same opportunities as their parents' generation to own their own home.
"This has had an immediate impact, with thousands of people already making savings thanks to our stamp duty cut, and over a million first-time buyers over the next five years are expected to save money that they can put towards a deposit, solicitors' fees or furniture."
In a pitch to younger voters, Theresa May said she wanted to make sure the “the housing ladder is not just a dream of your parents' past, but a reality for your future".
John Healey, Labour's shadow housing secretary, has questioned the impact of the Government's reforms on housing affordability.
He said: "Cutting stamp duty without the increase in affordable house-building that Labour has promised will only drive up prices, rather than help the millions of young people who want to buy a home of their own.
"The number of young home-owners is in free-fall but under the Tories the number of new low-cost homes for first-time buyers has halved and not a single one of the 200,000 'starter homes' promised has been built.
"It's clear Theresa May has no plan to fix the country's housing crisis."
