Stamp duty holiday helps fewer than intended

As commentators on the UK property market mull over the impact of the end of the stamp duty holiday, Zoopla.co.uk is claiming that far fewer home buyers have benefited from the concession than the Government intended.

The threshold on the duty was raised from £125,000 to £175,000 in September 2008 and is due to revert at the end of this year.

However, new research from the property portal shows that only 115,447 home buyers benefited from the tax break during the first year, saving £173 million in total, compared to a Government forecast of £600 million.

With no sign of ministers backing down on the end date of the holiday, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has recently reported that the impact of the reintroduction of the lower threshold will vary from region to region.

RICS members in the West and East Midlands, Wales and Scotland are expecting housing market activity to decline, while in London and the South East no falls in transactions are anticipated as average house prices are already well above the £125,000 threshold.

Surveyors in the North of England are in agreement, but in this case because the average price of a home is well below the threshold, at £116,051.

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