Stamp duty axed below £175,000

Published 03rd Sep 2008

Homebuyers will not have to pay stamp duty on properties costing £175,000 or less for the next 12 months.

The Conservatives said the measures announced to help the housing market were "too little, too late".

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said: "We will look at the details of these measures and we will support those that will work.

"But let's be clear, they are not going to help the vast majority of families facing a rising cost of living and falling house prices.

"Nor do they amount to the first instalment of the economic recovery plan we were promised.

"I suspect that what we will see in the coming weeks is a desperate and short-term survival plan for the prime minister rather that the long-term economic plan the country needs."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "This looks like a hotchpotch of measures thrown together to save Gordon Brown's political skin.

"The social housing stock could be increased far more easily by allowing local authorities to buy up unsold properties and use them for new social housing.

"Yet again the government is desperately scrabbling around for a way to fix problems of its own making."

Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, welcomed an end to the uncertainty which he said was causing people to delay house purchases.

The Westminster government was now catching up with what the Scottish government had already done to help the housing market, he added.

Two weeks ago, Mr Salmond announced he was bringing forward £100m worth of housing expenditure to this year rather than in 2010.

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