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The measure could be worth $1 billion, saving the average home buyer $3,115 in taxes, the Times of London reported Tuesday.

The stamp-duty taxes will still be collected on more expensive homes, where the duty amounts to 3 percent or 4 percent of the sale price, the Times reported.

Housing specialists were skeptical the move would provide much of a boost the country's slumping housing market.

Skeptics included the National Federation of Builders, which called the package "little more than a political sticking-plaster", the Times reported.

Community Secretary Hazel Blears said that the measure would assist "people who need just that little bit extra help to keep them afloat." But, Ray Boulger, a senior technical manager at mortgage lender John Charcol, said: "The only good thing about the announcement is that it has cleared the air."

The news, however, pushed stocks values up 10 percent at Britain's largest home builder, Taylor Wimpey, the Times reported.

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