Stamp Duty Confusion Affects 83% Of Movers
August 26th, 2008 3 Comments » | POSTED BY ROB
A couple of weeks ago Alistair Darling appeared to suggest there may be plans afoot to change the way stamp duty was charged, causing widespread uncertainty in the housing market as people waited for confirmation.
Although the Government has said this is one option possibly beig considered, no firm details have been forthcoming. Whilst the coverage of this has died down, a report published today suggests that it has had a profound effect on movers.
The study by MoveMe.com suggests that as many as 83% of movers have delayed their decision, pending further information about stamp duty – to me, that’s a staggering amount, although when you consider that the minimum amount of stamp duty you can pay on house is £1,250 (view all stamp duty rates), it’s not entirely surprising that in these uncertain times people are trying to watch every penny. You can hear the sound of housing chains collapsing around the country.
Here’s how the responses from the 1,500 people surveyed panned out:
- 63% of movers said they were postponing their move.
- 20% said they were delaying moving.
- 17% were unaffected.
There’s no doubt that scrapping the tax would help the market for houses, especially for first-time buyers, but by failing to confirm whether or not anything is to be done about it, the Government is exacerbating the problem.
photo credit: cseanburns
3 Comments on “Stamp Duty Confusion Affects 83% Of Movers”
Money Round Up: 26th August 2008 / Money Watch, August 26th, 2008
[...] Stamp Duty Confusion Affects 83% Of Movers – A couple of weeks ago Alistair Darling appeared to suggest there may be plans afoot to change the way stamp duty was charged, causing widespread uncertainty in the housing market as people waited for confirmation. [...]
Uncommonadvice, August 29th, 2008
I’ve got to take issue with the 83% statistic. I’ve talked with hundreds of buyers and sellers over the last month and only had one discussion regarding the stamp duty issue.
Uncommonadvice,
You may be right – I think 83% is high, although I have heard one story of a buyer pulling out of a move because they thought there may be a change to stamp duty – they may have been looking for an excuse to get out of the house purchase though.
I think this comes down to the accuracy of surveys – whilst a lot of buyers might not be talking about it, if a certain number are surveyed and are specifically asked “what are you going to do about a possible change to stamp duty” then you’ll get the answers as above. Here’s a good link about survey data: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7542886.stm
