Stamp duty concerns 'mean people are staying put'

By Jonathan Dawes, Wed 27 Aug 2008 - Published in Mortgages

Speculation that the government may ditch stamp duty means many people are putting off arranging a home loan, iammoving.com claims.

Chairman Simon Preston said that the uncertainty surrounding stamp duty was causing "a lot of anxiety".

He added the confusion was "obviously … not going to encourage someone to complete on a house sale in the next couple of months until [the government] come clean".

Earlier this month it was widely reported that the chancellor Alistair Darling had implied in an interview with the BBC's Today programme that he was considering scrapping stamp duty temporarily in a bid to revive the housing market.

A recent poll by the National Association of Estate Agents found that 92 per cent of estate agents believe the debate about abandoning stamp duty has increased consumer concerns.

Figures from Nationwide have revealed the average price of a house in the UK last month was down 1.7 per cent on June at Ł169,316.

On average house prices in July were 8.1 per cent lower than at the same point last year.

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