Downsizing Is stamp duty the main barrier to a move?

Many older people in large homes would like to release them to growing families, but the financial hit can be huge, writes Jedidajal

- Jedidajal

What's standing in the way of downsizing for Gail, 58, from Manchester - who is self-employed and lives with her partner in a five-bed house she would like to swap for a smaller home? "Simply the cost of stamp duty. We live in an expensive area, so downsizing will cost us a lot in stamp duty, far more than we would save by having lower bills."

In England and Northern Ireland, stamp duty land tax is charged on properties costing more than £250,000, unless you are a first time buyer (see box overleaf).

In Wales, its equivalent applies to homes costing more than £225,000, and in Scotland it starts at £145,000. For a property costing £450,000 in England, it means a bill of £10,000 if you are not buying your first home.

Economists say this acts as a disincentive for older people to move and means family homes are being under-occupied. Cutting the tax would, they say, make more people relocate to a smaller home.

The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, last month argued that stamp duty "gums up the housing market". He also said it meant that "mutually beneficial transactions - for example, an older person in a big house trading places with a younger family in a smaller house are disincentivised".

The calls for a stamp duty shake-up are getting louder: the former housing secretary Robert Jenrick described it as "a terrible tax" that "hinders the more than a quarter of homeowners, particularly pensioners, who want to downsize".

A report published last month commissioned by Family Building Society suggested the UK's housing stock would be better used if older homeowners could be persuaded to "right-size". Would-be downsizers "cannot buy a home that costs the same as their original house without spending money on the tax, while they can stay put for nothing", said the report's authors.