[West Ender]

Where I live, a 2-up 2-down terraced house is euphamistically referred to as a cottage (there must be all of 20 of them) and they sell at around the £200K mark. The average house price is £300K. I have 3 grown up children, all brought up in this village, and none of them can afford to buy a house here. If I didn't already live here, I wouldn't be able to move here either. The extension of the Stamp Duty exemption band isn't going to make a whole heap of difference in this neck of the woods.

The only fair tax is Income Tax. Stamp Duty is a tax on purchasing property which only serves to exclude the less wealthy from climbing the property ladder while the under-taxed high earners push up the basic property prices. If we must have it at all, it should start, at least, at £500K.