In the Press … PrimeResi
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to present the annual Spring Statement on 26th March, which could contain tax changes and policy shifts relevant to the property market.
Property Acquisitions founder and director Jennie Hancock was delighted to take part in this panel of opinions from leaders across the prime property sector, compiled by luxury property journal PrimeResi. She urges the Chancellor to be bold in tackling stamp duty, to free up the housing market and reap the multiple economic benefits that would bring.
“It might seem like a distant memory, but many of us in the property industry can remember the halcyon days of a single 1% rate of stamp duty, until it started creeping steadily upwards after 1997.
“People moved house every 3 or 4 years, when their circumstances changed such as a new job, a new baby, or when their children had left home and they wanted to downsize. And every time they did so, solicitors, estate agents, surveyors, removals firms, builders, architects and so on, all got paid – and so did the government via their taxes.
“Today, stamp duty has distorted and constrained the market so heavily, that we have older homeowners rattling around in large family homes which they no longer need or want, because they can’t face handing £150,000 to the tax man. They would rather stay put and hire a gardener or a housekeeper with that money.
“Meanwhile families are crammed into smaller properties, unable to afford to upsize because there aren’t enough large family homes to choose from. Plus, the stagnated market means they probably haven’t made much on their current home – so the enormous stamp duty bill they would face to upsize has to come out of their existing equity.
“When people don’t move home, the economy suffers, which is why stamp duty is such a pointless and prohibitive tax. As well as all the service providers and suppliers in the property ecosystem who lose out, it’s harder for companies to recruit, workers are forced to commute further to work and you end up with a far less mobile and less productive population.
“This is unlikely to be a tax cutting budget, but I wish the government could see just how much of an economic own goal stamp duty is.”
