The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has unveiled an election Family Home Tax Guarantee, where stamp duty and capital gains will not be increased over the next five years — while council tax bands will not be revalued or added.
Homebuyers currently pay stamp duty if their home costs more than £250,000.
Next March this will drop to £125,000 – taking the tax bill on an average-priced home in England from £2,386 to £4,886.
First-time buyers currently pay the levy if their home costs more than £425,000, which is set to drop to £300,000 in March next year.
In the March Spring Budget, Hunt cut capital gains tax to 24% from 28% for higher or additional rate taxpayers selling a residential property from 6 April.
Council tax bands in England are based on what the value of a home would have been on 1 April 1991.
They currently range from A (a property under £40,000) to H (a property above £320,000).
Jeremy Hunt, writing for The Telegraph, has challenged the Labour Party leadership to match this pledge.
“I am throwing down the gauntlet to [shadow chancellor] Rachel Reeves and [Labour leader] Sir Keir Starmer to join us in this pledge,” Hunt writes.
He added: “I actually want to see the Labour Party say they will put families first and higher taxes second.”
Labour’s former housing minister fails to rule out property tax rises
