STAMP DUTY

Thresholds remain unchanged, despite calls to bring them in line with higher house prices. But owners of the most expensive houses will avoid a rumoured higher rate, which should come as relief to those affected by Sir Michael Lyons’s council tax recommendations this week that there should be new bands for owners of houses worth more than £2.5 million.

FIRST-TIME BUYERS

There had been speculation of a new nil-rate stamp duty threshold of £150,000, up from £125,000, to help first-time-buyers, two thirds of whom now pay stamp duty.

Instead, the Chancellor announced further encouragement of the Open Market HomeBuy scheme, under which qualifying buyers fund 75 per cent of a home purchase, with the Government and lenders providing the remaining 25 per cent temporarily interest-free.

GREEN BUILDING

Environment-minded housebuyers will benefit from green measures, including a stamp-duty exemption until 2012 for new carbon-neutral homes worth up to £500,000. Those valued above the threshold will benefit from a £9,000 discount on their stamp duty bill.

The Government hopes the exemption will encourage green building; smartnewhomes.com says there are at present just 27 zero-carbon homes in the UK.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

The Chancellor indicated moves to encourage “green mortgages” to fund energy improvement measures and announced a VAT rate of 5 per cent on energy-saving products in the home, such as double glazing and insulation.

Elderly homeowners are among the Budget’s winners: Gordon Brown announced grants for them of up to £4,000 for the installation of central heating and insulation and a VAT rate of 5 per cent on home alterations.

INHERITANCE TAX

An expected £300,000 threshold for inheritance tax was confirmed, with Mr Brown announcing that it would rise in stages to £350,000 by 2010, although this falls short of the £460,000 level that Halifax says would be needed to keep the threshold in line with house price inflation since 1995.

OVERSEAS HOMES

Property owners with homes abroad learnt that they will be spared a tax charge if the purchase is made by a company. Many British buyers have established a company to buy overseas property to avoid stringent inheritance rules in other countries.

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