Halifax, the UK’s largest mortgage lender, has calculated that the number of parliamentary constituencies where the average price paid by a first-time buyer for a home is now higher than the price at which stamp Duty kicks in has increased from 13% in 1994 to 98% in 2004.

The Liberal Democrats have made an election promise to raise the threshold at which Stamp Duty kicks in on property purchase. Vincent Cable, spokesperson for the Lib Dems, has said that if the party won the election, it would change the rules so stamp duty would be payable on properties costing more than £150,000, up from the current £60,000.