In a statement, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) have slammed the Government for high taxes on property.
This followed the budget and limited if any changes to stamp duty thresholds. They have argued that despite the Government singing the praises of stamp duty thresholds, more than 60% of first time buyers actually had to pay stamp duty on their first house purchase in latter part of 2001.
This compares with just 23% in 1997 when the Government came into power.