Wednesday 3 September 2008

Stamp Duty uncertainty ends?

Well my post on 28th August was being listened to by Mr Brown? Perhaps not!

Anyway the decision to kill off the stamp duty speculation with a small sop for first time buyers or people buying houses below £175,000 should be welcomed by my clients and other agencies. However, the press have jumped on this saying it wont make any difference! I think at least it clears the air re will he won't he cut stamp duty. As a buyer you might think that this removes a further element of uncertainty.

Price falls will be the key determining factor though for many buyers - will prices fall or rise? My money is on a 25% fall between now and 2010, that would be bad news if your plan is to sell and downsize, but for many people trading up it actually helps them.

The stamp duty holiday demonstrates that the Brown government has a paucity of tools or money available to fix the market. Looks like the market will have to adopt and adapt and fix itself.

My clients tell me that business was slightly better before this announcement, time will tell whether it makes any real difference.

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