Oct 24 2007
A report from Halifax has highlighted a number of areas around the UK where over a quarter of the value of houses would leave owners liable to paying inheritance tax.
The majority of the areas where over a quarter of homes sold are worth in excess of the £600,000 combined threshold for inheritance tax are in London and 14 of the 62 are in other parts of the south-east of England, Halifax has established.
London also has the highest concentration of areas in which the average house price puts owners in line to face inheritance tax, with 17 of these 22 postcode districts being located in the capital.
Martin Ellis, Halifax's chief economist, remarked: "There are still some parts of the UK where a significant proportion of households are vulnerable to paying inheritance tax based purely on the value of their own home despite the changes to inheritance tax announced earlier this month."
Earlier this month, the chancellor Alistair Darling announced that the threshold for inheritance tax would be doubled from its previous level of £300,000.
