Chancellor weighs stamp duty cut as housing market stalls
Treasury officials have modelled a temporary holiday for first-time buyers after transactions fell to their lowest level in a decade
The chancellor is considering a temporary cut to stamp duty for first-time buyers as the housing market slows to its weakest level in ten years, the Daily Meridian understands.
Treasury officials have modelled a 12-month holiday on purchases below £500,000, a measure that would cost about £1.4bn and that ministers hope would unblock a market in which transactions have fallen by a fifth since the spring.
Completed sales in England and Wales dropped to 68,000 in August, the fewest for that month since 2015, as buyers waited for interest rates to fall further and sellers refused to cut asking prices.
“Nobody is moving,” said one estate agent in Reading, who asked not to be named. “The chains have stopped. Everyone is sitting on their hands waiting for someone else to blink.”
A Treasury spokesperson said the government “keeps all taxes under review” and did not comment on the modelling. A decision is expected before the autumn statement.
Opposition parties said a holiday would simply push up prices, as previous stamp duty cuts had done. Housing economists were split, with several arguing that the real constraint was supply rather than tax.
