About propertyfinder.com

propertyfinder.com is one of the UK’s leading* property portals, helping over 1.5 million** visitors a month with their search to find a new home. With more than 4,000*** UK Estate Agents listing over 350,000*** properties, property seekers are spoilt for choice. Whether you are looking to buy a house, rent a flat or sell your home, you’ll find all the help you need at propertyfinder.com.

Source:* comScore MediaMetrix October 2007 (propertyfinder.com is number 5 of 183 UK property portals), **Omniture SiteCatalyst October 2007, ***propertyfinder.com Internal Statistics October 2007

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propertyfinder.com Press Release

LONDON HOME BUYERS STAMPED ON UNTIL THE PIPS SQUEAK

• 5 boroughs paid more stamp duty last year than the whole UK in 1996/7
• 3 boroughs paid more stamp duty last year than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined
• Only 1.2% of homes below stamp threshold in London

Home buyers in just five London boroughs paid more in stamp duty in 2006/7 than the entire United Kingdom in 1996/7, the year before Labour came to power according to research by property website propertyfinder.com.

Between them, Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, Wandsworth, Camden and Richmond paid £723m in stamp duty last year, compared to £675m for the whole country in 1996/7. Home buyers in Kensington & Chelsea forked out £235m alone, an eye-watering £34,886 average for each property bought. (See table 1 in appendix for full rankings of London boroughs)

The total paid by Londoners last year was £1.725billion, more than a quarter of the entire UK’s stamp duty bill of £6.445bn. This is equivalent to £7,943 for every home buyer in the capital, 2.2x the national average. In only five London boroughs did the typical home buyer pay less stamp duty than the UK average.

The figures for London are equally shocking when compared to other regions of the UK. Last year, the 289,242 housing transactions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland scraped together a mere £500m for the Treasury’s coffers, just £1,728 per purchase. With less than one tenth the number of home sales of these three regions (27,142), the three top London boroughs - Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Wandsworth paid £550m in levies.

Warren Bright, chief executive of propertyfinder.com commented: “London home buyers are being stamped on until the pips squeak. With just a handful of boroughs contributing more in stamp duty than vast swathes of the UK put together, the Treasury is milking London’s housing market for all it can. The banding effect of stamp duty only makes the situation worse.

The UK economy depends on a strong London to help bankroll the nation. But there’s only so many eggs the golden goose can lay.”

APPENDIX

Stamp Duty by London borough (sorted by total revenue raised)

	Number of transactions	Value of Homes Sold (£m)	Stamp Duty Raised (£m)	Average Stamp Duty per Transaction (£)
Kensington and Chelsea	6,739	£6,236	£235	£34,886
Westminster	8,653	£6,011	£193	£22,329
Wandsworth	11,727	£4,068	£122	£10,378
Richmond upon Thames	6,521	£2,773	£89	£13,671
Camden	5,222	£2,554	£84	£16,024
Barnet	8,830	£2,765	£76	£8,568
Hammersmith	5,478	£2,075	£65	£11,890
Bromley	10,044	£2,591	£61	£6,038
Ealing	8,568	£2,165	£50	£5,868
Lambeth	7,465	£1,982	£48	£6,474
Southwark	5,856	£1,500	£48	£8,172
City of London	5,829	£1,945	£46	£7,833
Merton	6,034	£1,680	£42	£6,968
Harrow	6,069	£1,646	£40	£6,660
Croydon	10,902	£2,209	£40	£3,641
Islington	4,240	£1,374	£39	£9,118
Haringey	5,603	£1,476	£37	£6,612
Hounslow	6,338	£1,636	£37	£5,787
Kingston upon Thames	5,086	£1,401	£34	£6,752
Enfield	7,795	£1,700	£33	£4,231
Redbridge	7,125	£1,640	£33	£4,595
Hillingdon	6,751	£1,588	£32	£4,708
Tower Hamlets	5,326	£1,425	£30	£5,673
Brent	5,265	£1,264	£29	£5,550
Sutton	6,110	£1,316	£26	£4,297
Lewisham	6,896	£1,405	£24	£3,508
Greenwich	6,121	£1,281	£24	£3,885
Barking and Dagenham	3,913	£617	£22	£5,724
Havering	6,217	£1,282	£22	£3,478
Hackney	3,646	£897	£19	£5,294
Waltham Forest	5,975	£1,167	£18	£2,950
Bexley	5,990	£1,129	£17	£2,827
Newham	4,871	£900	£11	£2,232
LONDON TOTAL	217,203	£65,697	£1,725	£7,943

Stamp Duty by London borough (sorted by average stamp duty per transaction)

	Number of transactions	Value of Homes Sold (£m)	Stamp Duty Raised (£m)	Average Stamp Duty per Transaction (£)
Kensington and Chelsea	6,739	£6,236	£235	£34,886
Westminster	8,653	£6,011	£193	£22,329
Camden	5,222	£2,554	£84	£16,024
Richmond upon Thames	6,521	£2,773	£89	£13,671
Hammersmith	5,478	£2,075	£65	£11,890
Wandsworth	11,727	£4,068	£122	£10,378
Islington	4,240	£1,374	£39	£9,118
Barnet	8,830	£2,765	£76	£8,568
Southwark	5,856	£1,500	£48	£8,172
City of London	5,829	£1,945	£46	£7,833
Merton	6,034	£1,680	£42	£6,968
Kingston upon Thames	5,086	£1,401	£34	£6,752
Harrow	6,069	£1,646	£40	£6,660
Haringey	5,603	£1,476	£37	£6,612
Lambeth	7,465	£1,982	£48	£6,474
Bromley	10,044	£2,591	£61	£6,038
Ealing	8,568	£2,165	£50	£5,868
Hounslow	6,338	£1,636	£37	£5,787
Barking and Dagenham	3,913	£617	£22	£5,724
Tower Hamlets	5,326	£1,425	£30	£5,673
Brent	5,265	£1,264	£29	£5,550
Hackney	3,646	£897	£19	£5,294
Hillingdon	6,751	£1,588	£32	£4,708
Redbridge	7,125	£1,640	£33	£4,595
Sutton	6,110	£1,316	£26	£4,297
Enfield	7,795	£1,700	£33	£4,231
Greenwich	6,121	£1,281	£24	£3,885
Croydon	10,902	£2,209	£40	£3,641
Lewisham	6,896	£1,405	£24	£3,508
Havering	6,217	£1,282	£22	£3,478
Waltham Forest	5,975	£1,167	£18	£2,950
Bexley	5,990	£1,129	£17	£2,827
Newham	4,871	£900	£11	£2,232
LONDON TOTAL	217,203	£65,697	£1,725	£7,943

Source: HMRC

propertyfinder.com Key Statistics

Unique Browsers	1,567,617*
Page Impressions	26,337,636*
Unique Browser Frequency per Month	1.28*

Source:*Omniture SiteCatalyst October 2007

Key Statistics for the United Kingdom

Average Web Usage in the UK October 2007

Sessions / Visits Per Person	45**
Domains Visited Per Person	79**
PC Time Per Person	50:26:53**
Duration of a Web Page Viewed	00:00:51**
Active Digital Media Universe	39,428,296**

Source:** Nielsen//Netratings October 2007 Work and Home Panel Data

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