Category Archives: viewpoint

Mr Sunak, don’t do a half job on Stamp Duty on Wednesday’s Mini-Budget – do it properly, or not at all

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As the press media would have us believe, apart from tinkering with VAT, it looks as though Mr Sunak is going to raise the threshold of Stamp Duty as a limp gesture, for a year, to get the residential property market off its knees.

I’m wondering who is, today, advising the Treasury about the state of the residential market? Whoever they may be, the truth is that as a direct result of the government-backed scheme – Right-to-Buy – this has been stoking up the lower end of the market, for some time now. Frankly, activity in this sector has been quite brisk and doesn’t really need any further stimulation. Continue reading →

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go…

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As estate agents offices open up again around the country, we need to adjust to a brave, new post-virus world.

The current ‘lockdown affair’ has been tragic, absurd and surreal. However, one unexpected side effect has been that everyone has had time to reflect on their lives and discern what is truly worthwhile. The difference between the price of everything and the value of nothing, as Oscar Wilde might say.

So as we come blinking into the sunlight, it’s an opportune time to examine the seismic macroeconomic issues which are rumbling away under our feet, at this very moment. Continue reading →

Time to take a wrecking ball to the Stamp Duty Escalator and let the markets fly free at last

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For goodness sake Mr. Sunak, take a wrecking ball to the Stamp Duty Escalator and let the markets fly free at last… the Treasury needs the revenue, retail spending needs the stimulus as does the UK economy

What an absolute shower! Thanks to the latest – most unwanted – Chinese import, which has brought most of the world to its plague-ridden knees, the once-flourishing UK economy is teetering on the edge of a Beachy economic Head and staring into the fiscal abyss. Continue reading →