Sep 25 2006
An increasing number of homes in Britain are exceeding the value of the inheritance tax threshold, new research claims.
The report by Halifax states that in ten per cent of towns the price of the average house now surpasses the £285,000 limit, with most of those towns being in the south of England.
According to forecasts by the company, 20 per cent of homes in England will be over the threshold by 2020.
Tim Crawford, an economist at Halifax, said: "We call on the government to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £430,000. Doing so would allow for the significant increase in property prices over the past decade.
"It would also ensure that many middle income home owners avoid a tax which was never intended that they pay in the first instance,"
The Halifax House Price Index recently reported that annual house price inflation was at 8.2 per cent in August 2006, with the seasonally-adjusted average house-price being £179,043.
