Gordon Brown announced new plans today to help house buyers in an attempt to boost the mortgages market. He plans to axe stamp duty for houses costing under £175k and introduce a new “free” loans scheme called called 'HomeBuy Direct' to first time buyers that earn under £60k. The loans offered amount up to 30% of the value of the property and is interest free for five years, after which a fee will be charged. The government estimates that half of all property transactions will now be exempt from stamp duty, up by by a quarter when the threshold was £125,000. This means that as of September 3^rd those buying homes for £175,000 will save £1,750, which will cost the Treasury £600m.

The announcement comes as the Prime Minister Gordon Brown attempts to improve Britain's housing market after sales have plummeted following the wake of the credit crunch. Figures from the Bank of England showed that home loans dropped 71 percent over the last year. Offering considerable loans that incur undisclosed fees after the five year period could result in first time buyers getting into debt.

London's first time buyers are angry at the £175k threshold given for stamp duty exemption as they are far less likely to benefit from the rise, stating that it's “close to impossible to find a desirable property in London under the £250k mark”, and that “it is all just a ploy to help developers meet the governments targets for affordable housing”.

Others argued that the government should stop giving tax payers money away to buy up markets and that people should only be buying what they can afford in the first place. Admittedly this is easy for current homeowners to say, who have not been effected by the intermittent property market.