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Tag: stamp duty

Restructuring stamp duty should provide a boost to housing, interesting timing don’t you think?

Restructuring stamp duty should provide a boost to housing, interesting timing don’t you think?

So the Chancellor’s big idea was a reform of the stamp duty land tax. Excellent. Certainly few people with an appreciation of either taxation systems or the housing market think SDLT is a good tax. The Mirrlees Review: A proposal for systematic tax reform, a highly-regarded document in tax circles, had this to say for it: “There is no sound case for maintaining stamp duty and we believe that it should be abolished.” It recommended it be replaced by a…

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Drop in home buyers and sellers in December – was it the snow or is it a climate change?

Drop in home buyers and sellers in December – was it the snow or is it a climate change?

Both buyers and sellers appeared to be fleeing the housing market in December, according to the latest housing market survey from the surveyors’ body RICS. The intriguing question is whether this was a freak result cause by heavy falls of snow or are we seeing a climate change in the housing market. Certainly the RICS points understandably to the bad weather as a factor in the results. But we will have to wait for later results to provide a firmer…

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Buyers and sellers abandon the housing market – that’s bad news for house building numbers

Buyers and sellers abandon the housing market – that’s bad news for house building numbers

The latest housing market survey released today by the surveyors’ body RICS paints a fascinating picture of the courting process between buyers and sellers of houses. The headline figure taken from the survey was always going to be that the majority of estate agents are now seeing house price falls. The figure for the balance of agents seeing rising prices against those seeing prices fall was -52, which was the lowest since March last year. This figure fits with the general…

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A double-dip in house prices isn’t really the problem

A double-dip in house prices isn’t really the problem

The Nationwide house price survey showing a drop of 0.9% following a 0.5% drop in July adds yet more weight to the growing view that house prices are sagging and are set to sag further. The Halifax index peaked in March and fell monthly up to a minor rally in July. The Acadmetrics index has been heading south since March, although it similarly saw a gentle uplift of 0.1% in July. Hometrack went 0.1% negative in July and the drop…

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Has the Office for Budget Responsibility screwed up the Stamp Duty figures?

Has the Office for Budget Responsibility screwed up the Stamp Duty figures?

I appreciate that Office for Budget Responsibility is taking flak at the moment for being “optimistic with the truth”, but I can’t help but chip in with yet another gripe. I have deep concern that it has made a huge fluff of the numbers for Stamp Duty Land Tax that could leave the Treasury billions short on its target for the revenue so much needed to close the deficit. We are being asked to believe that by 2014 the Treasury…

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Better than expected, but pre-Budget forecast will not spare construction’s pain

Better than expected, but pre-Budget forecast will not spare construction’s pain

There was a widespread view, stoked in part by the new incumbent at No 11 Downing Street, suggesting that the first output from the newly established Office for Budget Responsibility would most likely reveal the public sector debt to be far greater than we had been led to believe. Understandably this miffed the ex-Chancellor Alistair Darling who quite rightly was irritated at the suggestion he was a smoke and mirrors merchant. Well, now it would seem that if he had been…

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Budget figures confirm the urgent need for new sources of investment in construction

Budget figures confirm the urgent need for new sources of investment in construction

As if in compensation for all the anticipation before and excitement during the Budget announcement, we are left with the dull thud back to reality afterwards. Certainly, for construction the Budget itself changed little of substance. Alright the first-time buyer stamp duty holiday was an eye-catching cheeky move. But we all know its greatest impact will be in 20 months time when we will see a flurry of activity by those who don’t want to miss out on potentially saving…

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Stamp duty – a tax rise that looks set to win votes

Stamp duty – a tax rise that looks set to win votes

There is obvious glee within the housing market about the prospects of a two-year period free of stamp duty for those first-time buyers who purchase properties worth less than £250,000. The £250,000 threshold captures practically all of them, with significantly less than 10% of exceptions that will be mainly resident in London and the South East. And the cost of this “Budget giveaway” the Treasury puts at under £300 million annually at worst. This figure is of course a hypothetical resting on the…

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