First-time buyers should be exempt from having to pay stamp duty, according to finance experts.

First-time buyers should be exempt from having to pay stamp duty, according to finance experts.

Spokesmen at Alliance & Leicester Mortgages say that abolishing stamp duty tax would enable more first-time buyers to get onto the property ladder.

According to a recent survey carried out, almost two thirds (61 per cent) of first-time buyers are looking to spend over £120,000 on their first home and will face paying the stamp duty tax as a result.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister calculated that the average cost of a first-time buyer property in the UK was £146,267 in the third quarter of 2005, suggesting that most people will have to pay the duty despite the government having doubled the stamp duty threshold last year.

Stephen Leonard, director of mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, said: "These potential homeowners are the life blood of the housing market. With first-time buyers at a 25-year low and house prices on the up, we hope that Gordon Brown will help ease the struggle for this group in this year's budget.

"Home exemption from stamp duty will go some way to alleviate the strain of home buying," he added.