From today the temporary stamp duty exemption on properties costing between £125,000 to £175,000 comes to an end. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said it could have a detrimental effect on the recovery in areas of the UK that were lagging behind the rest of the country.
It does seem unfortunate as the predicted house price meltdown didn’t materialise and after a dip, confidence seems to have remained quite steady with home buyers, so why mess with it now? According to the Nationwide house prices are up 5.9% in 2009.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is calling for a review of stamp duty calling for the tax not to be charged on the first £150,000 of a property’s price, regardless of the home’s value. This is a move that would be great news for all home buyers and would currently remove some first time buyers from having to pay any stamp duty on their purchase. Of course this does assume they are able to secure a mortgage to buy in the first place.
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