Industry figure says mortgage interest is the cost silently eroding homeowners' finances as parliamentary pressure on stamp duty mounts
MPs have called for a fundamental overhaul of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – but parliament has been warned the cumulative cost of mortgage interest is a far greater burden facing homeowners.
The intervention follows a report published on 9 June by the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee, which called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to fundamentally reform SDLT, warning the levy is "damaging the economy" and acting as a drag on housing market activity. The cross-party committee stopped short of calling for outright abolition but urged the government to launch a consultation by the end of 2026 into potential alternatives, including a full revenue-neutral replacement, reduced rates to stimulate transaction volumes, and an overhaul of banding thresholds to better reflect local property prices.
Jinesh Vohra, chief executive of Sprive, said that while removing barriers to moving is good for the market, the more pressing issue for most borrowers sits elsewhere. "Anything that makes it easier and cheaper to move home is welcome, and stamp duty has long been a barrier. It's a tax on moving that freezes people in place, discourages downsizing and adds thousands to an already stretched buying process. Unblocking that is good for the whole market."
But Vohra is pointed in where he believes the greater problem lies. "The biggest tax most homeowners pay isn't stamp duty, it's interest. A typical borrower pays the bank tens of thousands, often hundreds of thousands over the life of their mortgage. But unlike stamp duty, that's a cost people can actually start chipping away at today, by overpaying even in small amounts so they own more of their home, sooner."
The political backdrop
Florence Eshalomi MP, chair of the HCLG Committee, said: "Reform of stamp duty is necessary but, especially given the public finance implications, this cannot be done in isolation or without a credible alternative in place. We urge the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government and HM Treasury to consult on alternatives to stamp duty that can deliver long-term benefit and not a short-term fix which only distorts the housing market and exacerbates the affordability problem."
The committee's report sets out how far home ownership in England has retreated. Ownership rates have declined from a high of 71% in 2003 to 62.5% as of the 2021 Census. The generational picture is bleaker still, with data from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, referenced by the committee, showing just 25% of 27-year-olds owned their home in 2018, down from 43% a decade earlier.
The price-to-earnings ratio has worsened significantly too. In 1997, the median house price in England stood at 3.54 times median workplace earnings and, by 2024, that figure had risen to 7.71 times, according to Office for National Statistics data cited in the report.
The cost borrowers can control
It is precisely this environment – stretched affordability, elevated mortgage rates and sluggish wage growth – that underpins Vohra's argument.
For many borrowers, the stamp duty bill is a one-off hit at the point of purchase. Mortgage interest, by contrast, is a cost that compounds across decades, and one that proactive overpayment can meaningfully reduce.
Wider reform on the table
Beyond SDLT, the committee recommends the government publish annual homebuilding targets for each remaining year of the Parliament, with six-monthly progress updates, as it works towards its commitment of 1.5 million new homes. The report also calls for greater powers for councils to bring long-term empty properties back into use, and backs replacing the Lifetime ISA with a new home ownership product, provided it removes the existing scheme's punitive withdrawal charge and its static property price cap, which made the ISA unworkable in many higher-value markets.
For mortgage brokers and advisers on the front line of the affordability crisis, the committee's report represents meaningful political momentum. But as Vohra's reaction illustrates, the industry's attention is equally fixed on the costs that reform cannot touch, and on what borrowers can do about them in the meantime.
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