The pandemic has thrown the housing sector into a state of flux with price falls under way, a negative impact on earnings and employment, and prospective buyers nervous and sitting tight.
A stamp duty reduction is vital now to help the property sector across the board, as well as the wider economy. Such a “holiday” would jump start the market, release pent-up demand and motivate buying. Although most first-time buyers don’t currently pay stamp duty, it does affect everyone else in the chain and the proposed plans should relieve the downward pressure on prices.
This stamp duty “holiday” needs to come now, as we begin to enter the quieter summer period. The Government must act quickly to help us transition back towards pre-coronavirus levels of market confidence and ensure those buyers most in need are supported at the right time.
Mick Silver, CEO, Moovshack
Editor's reply
Dear Mick,
I agree. In lockdown, we’ve all been casting a keener eye over our homes, considering whether a move might be wise. For many would-be buyers, worries over future finances will weigh heavy and it looks like the Government will take this helpful action to get the housing market going again. There’s a risk that those looking to buy might bring their plans forward from next year to take advantage, leading to a market slump later. But that feels like a chance worth taking to get Britain’s economy moving.
Alex Lawson, Business news editor
Polonius right?
Polonius’s “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” [Anne McElvoy, Tuesday] sounds like common sense. It might be for households. But not for a government with its own currency and central bank. In 2014 some of the debt repaid by the Government related to the South Sea Bubble of 1720. Governments are in it for the long haul. And their debt, if owned domestically, is money the country owes itself.
David Murray
