Stamp duty boost for sales

Comparison website moneysupermarket.com said it had seen a 15 per cent jump in the number of first-time buyers looking at mortgages through its site in the seven days immediately after the Budget.

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced that first-time buyers purchasing a property costing up to 250,000 would not be liable for stamp duty for two years.

Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, of moneysupermarket.com, said: "There has been much debate over the past week as to what impact Darling's measures will have on the housing market.

"And while the jury's still out on that one, it's clear that those most affected have welcomed it, if numbers to our site are anything to go by."