One year stamp duty holiday for cheapest properties
Updated on 02 September 2008
From tomorrow, for just one year, anyone buying a home worth £175,000 or less will be exempt from stamp duty.
A one-year freeze on stamp duty for homes worth under a £175,000 - and loans to help first time buyers and those at risk of losing their homes.
The prime minister insisted the £1bn package showed the government was doing everything it could to help the housing market - but critics say the plans won't make any difference.
For Gordon Brown, fixing the housing market is not just essential for the economy but the first step in boosting his premiership and reviving the fortunes of the government.
"Homeowners need to know we'll do everything we can to keep the housing market moving forwards.
"Help with stamp duty, help with first time buyers, help to build more social housing, help to take more unsold properties off the housing market and help with people who get into difficulty.
"These are things government should do to help people come through what is difficult situation."
And so the government has done what so many have been calling for for months. A stamp duty holiday aimed at helping first time buyers so the housing market will start moving again.
From tomorrow, for just one year, anyone buying a home worth £175,000 or less will be exempt from stamp duty.
'Homeowners need to know we'll do everything we can to keep the housing market moving forwards'- Gordon Brown
And so the government has done what so many have been calling for for months. A stamp duty holiday aimed at helping first time buyers so the housing market will start moving again.
From tomorrow, for just one year, anyone buying a home worth £175,000 or less will be exempt from stamp duty.
Does it go far enough?
The biggest mortgage lender Halifax has welcomed it as a sensible measure, but the council of mortgage lenders believes the £175,000 threshold is too low.
Would-be buyer Paul Bedwell agrees:
"We wouldn't be able to get property under £175,000, second just a holiday payback at some point."
Estate agents are also dissatisfied. They blamed the government's refusal to be clear about stamp duty plans earlier for further undermining the housing market in recent weeks.
Government housing package
£1bn measures including:
- £400m to build more social housing
- £300m shared equity scheme
- £200m mortgage rescue scheme
- £100m interest payments support
SOURCE: Department for Communities and Local Government
Last year stamp duty raised more than £14 billion pounds for the Treasury. The holiday will cost an estimated £600 million and will mean that 40 per cent of all homes are exempt for a year.
The Conservatives, who've been calling for all homes under £250,000 pounds to be exempt are among those critical about how much impact the government's measure will have.
In addition to the announcement on stamp duty the government has come up with a £1bn package of other measures including:
- £400m to help councils and housing associations build more social housing.
- £300m shared equity scheme to help first time buyers get on the property ladder.
- £200m has been set aside for a mortgage rescue scheme to help 6,000 homeowners facing repossession.
- Further £100m to help more struggling homeowners with interest payments
Meeting charities, housing groups and trade unions this morning, the prime minister and the chancellor were explaining how their strategy will revive the housing market.
But with today's measures not directly addressing the mortgage famine, many remain unconvinced.
