Rantings of a London Property Search Agent

Well it could have been a very different afternoon could it not? 

Stamp duty, REITS, empty rate relief and clarification on regulation for buy-to-lets: there is really no good news.  And what on earth are they doing pushing £80m into shared ownership schemes: pushing hard pressed first-time buyers into quarter/ half shares of over-priced one bedroom flats?  It’s a nonsense!  But don’t get me started on that little chestnut!  

Acknowledging that the housing sector is key to the recovery of the UK economy, Alistair Darling said: ‘the key to the health of our society is the long term supply of housing€™ so the government are supporting the construction industry to ensure more homes are built with £500million for stalled schemes and a further £100m to encourage local authorities to build green homes.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this to be honest, because mass-produced new-build is notoriously over-priced and frankly, unfortunately developers and investors caught in the headlights need to live with the consequences.   This is a long term fix, but has been widely criticised by the developers it is designed to help, for being unclear.  Given the fiasco of the mortgage support scheme, that is an entirely fair point.  Interestingly, although most banks closed their book to developers last year, self-builders are not struggling to get finance.  It this because their due diligence is not dependent on unsustainable sales figures?

I am most irritated about stamp duty.  Significant reductions  for property sub-£500K where 3% is payable would have assisted the market and injected a little confidence.  The extension of 0% stamp duty for transactions up to £175,000 for the rest of the year is certainly welcome, but so much more could have been done.  This is not going to help many buyers in London and therefore is pretty much irrelevant to the property market in the capital.

Technorati Tags: Business rate relief on empty properties, London property, London Property Search Agent, REITs, Stamp Duty, The budget

Tags: Business rate relief on empty properties, London property, London Property Search Agent, REITs, Stamp Duty, The budget