Chancellor Alistair Darling’s decision to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyers purchasing homes valued at under £250000 has helped “kick-start” activity in the property market. Research from moneysupermarket. com showed that in the week following this news in the Budget, the number of people looking to buy their first home using its mortgage comparison tool rose by 15 per cent. The site said that the rise in demand among potential first-time buyers has coincided with improvements in the availability of home loans for this group. However, 18 per cent of consumers said that More >