Fewer than one in 25 properties sold in
London last year cost less than £120,000.
However, in the north east of England, two thirds of
properties sold cost less than £120,000.
"Raising the threshold will have little effect in the
south of England but quite a major one in other parts of the
UK," Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist, told BBC
News.
But Mr Ellis does not believe that raising the threshold
will reignite the UK housing market.
"Whenever the government has raised the stamp duty
threshold in the past, it has had little or no impact on the
housing market, this time is unlikely to be different."
Scepticism
Milan Khatri, chief economist at the Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors (RICS), told BBC News that raising the
threshold will not, on its own, enable first-time buyers to
clamber onto the property ladder.
"This grabs some nice headlines in the run-up to an
election but doesn't do anything about affordability.
"It will be no easier to get a large-enough mortgage
or save a sizeable deposit because of this move.
"First-time buyers will be pleased that they will have
a little extra cash in their pockets at a time when usually
money is short."
Tax take
The chancellor's announcement represents the first rise in
the stamp duty threshold since 1993.
Then, buyers had a much greater chance of avoiding stamp
duty, with close to half a million properties - in England and
Wales alone -selling for less than £60,000.
However, average UK property prices have more than doubled
in the past six years while the threshold for stamp duty has
remained unchanged.
As a result, the number of properties incurring stamp duty
has rocketed as has the government's tax take.
Halifax bank has estimated that revenue from stamp duty on
house sales has risen from £465m in 1993-4 to £4.3bn in the
current tax year.
"The cost to the government of raising the threshold
is small beer compared to the overall increase in the stamp
duty take," Mr Ellis said.
Raising the threshold will have little effect in
the south of England but quite a major one in other
parts of the UK 
