Tag Archives: Stamp Duty

The Marching Morons* of the Residential Property Market.1

The first fruits of Brexit?

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In the first two quarters of last year, trading for us, was positively awful in all price ranges, so much so, that we thought our phones had been ‘cut off’ by our competitors and that the ‘end of the world was nigh!’

Thank goodness, from July 2017 until the present day, certainly amongst the international buying community, the word is out that London property prices are now cheap, having been decimated by the ridiculous Stamp Duty hikes of the last Chancellor, where discount on values in the order of 30%, are now quite common. Continue reading →

Are the Stamp Duty hikes doing more harm to the UK Economy than just strangling the Residential Property Market?

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We all know the reasons why the former Chancellor imposed those draconian hikes on Stamp Duty charges in the autumn Budget of 2014 and we can now see the full devastating and distorting effect it is having on the Residential Property Market, particularly in London.

Prices are down by 25% and activity is down by 70% and since transaction expenses are now playing such an important part in the mind-set of prospective buyers, in certain price ranges, there is absolute gridlock in sales, where sellers outnumber buyers by 10-1. Continue reading →

Response to the Chancellor’s Budget, November 2017

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The abolition of Stamp Duty for first time buyers up to £300,000 is a very good initiative, however, whilst it is a very welcome £5000 gift for these vulnerable groups, it never the less may serve to ‘stoke up’ the market at the lower end, which could perversely, work against them.

The former Chancellor Osborne, reduced Stamp Duty at the lower end which exacerbated inflation in this sector from circ 5-8%, particularly in London, and this served to disenfranchise buyers at this end of the market since their deposits were not rising at the same pace as prices. Continue reading →