Stamp duty suspended (but with a snag)

[chris79]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Bus...y%2BGovernment

Only on properties under 175k....

[oracleslave]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Bus...y%2BGovernment

Only on properties under 175k....

So it only really helps FTB's up north?

[ferret]

What a load of carp. That will help 3 people who are stupid enough to buy a flat at the minute then. Also it has only been waived for a year.

Other measures aimed at boosting the housing market include "free" loans of up to 30% for first time buyers in England.

Households earning less than £60,000 will be offered loans free of charge for five years on new properties, co-funded by the state and developers.

The loans system, called HomeBuy Direct, is to be run together with "large-scale" property firms.

Once the five-year "free" period is up, homebuyers will be asked to pay a fee, the Department for Communities and Local Government said - although no more detail of this was provided.

An utter joke. Hope this generates enough bad press to put all first time buyers off for the foreseeable. Can't believe these c*cks thought this was actually worth doing. More public money down the pan, more useless gestures from an inept and out of touch government

[chicane]

A fair amount of properties on the market below the stated price are in stamp-duty exempt zones anyway. Perhaps with the exception of (cough) "luxury apartments".

[wobbegong]

Which, considering the average house price in the UK is £219K, is about as useful as a paper kettle.

[chris79]

By Christmas 95% of properties will be under the 175k threshhold, so it will benefit everyone very soon.

[chicane]

By Christmas 95% of properties will be under the 175k threshhold, so it will benefit everyone very soon.

luxury apartments

[VectraMan]

Which, considering the average house price in the UK is £219K, is about as useful as a paper kettle.

Or £165K, if you believe a different part of the BBC.

[NotAllThere]

Which, considering the average house price in the UK is £219K, is about as useful as a paper kettle.

You should read this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7581120.stm

It is entirely possible for the average house price to be £219K, while the majority of houses cost less than £175K.

[Dow Jones]

Incentive

It's like the Sofa people giving 2 yrs to pay and 0% interest, not many takers there either.
Barratts/Wimpey/etc have been trying this along with their other gimmicks, like free legal and removal costs to no avail. The No 1 priority for Darling should be to shut up, give some tax back (unlikely) and not make things worse than they are by trying 'quick fixes'.