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

Stamp Duty Confusion Affects 83% Of Movers was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Looks like the Chancellor, Alistair Darling (thanks to the character Captain Darling, I always think of Blackadder when I hear his name) is in a bit of a mess over possible changes to stamp duty.

It has been reported that Darling is considering proposals that would allow buyers to postpone paying stamp duty on their house purchases – a suggestion which has led to confusion amongst buyers as to whether they should wait for the new rules to come in before buying their property. It’s meant that there could be further stagnation in an already lacklustre housing market.

The Chancellor is left in an awkward situation – although the government suggest the report is untrue, it would appear to be a policy that they’re considering, but they may not have had chance to work out how much it will cost, or how it will be paid for.

It’s also difficult for Darling or the government to say the stories are untrue, as to back-track at a later day could be political suicide – something neither Darling nor the government could do with right now.

So the upshot is further confusion in the housing market – buyers unwilling to commit until they know the full details, sellers unable to sell, and estate agents left in the middle trying to pick up the pieces where they can.

photo credit: Aspo

Stamp Duty Confusion was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

As John pointed out in the comments, this probably wasn’t the greatest deal ever done, as the average house apparently sells for 93% of the asking price, whereas we probably paid about 97% of the asking price. However, I don’t feel too bad, as the sellers had already dropped the asking price of the house by £10,000 before we made an offer, so based on that we probably did get a good price after all.

With house prices falling and a stagnant property market, sellers are struggling to get rid of their houses, which means that first-time buyers are now in a better position to haggle than they’ve been for quite a while.

Also, given the minimal availability of 100% and 95% mortgages, it’s now even more important for first-time buyers to negotiate the lowest price possible, in order to make their deposits go further.

Why First Time Buyers Should Haggle Harder Than Ever was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

One of the worries is that as these costs increase, more and more people will go into arrears on their mortgages by missing payments – when there’s food to be put on the table, rent and mortgage payments could get put to the bottom of the pile.

In the past, the proportion that people are paying on their mortgage has been a good indication of whether we might be heading for a housing crash. According to a recent report, the proportion we’re now paying on our mortgages is higher than it’s ever been – higher than at its previous peak in the 1980s, which preceeded the housing crash of the 90s.

I’ve done a quick calculation and have worked out that we (my partner and I) spend around 30% of our income on our mortgage (it’s interest-only, so that’s both the mortgage repayment and the ISA investment we make to cover the capital). I’m not sure how that compares to others, so I’d like some feedback from you on how much of your income gets spent on your mortgage, or indeed if you’re currently off the property ladder, how much goes on rent?

Poll: How Much Of Your Income Is Spent On Your Mortgage / Rent? was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

The maths is pretty complicated but also intriguing; in her calculations, the buy-to-let option comes out on top, although she concludes that the risk is naturally greater, and the involvement one needs is probably also more than with a traditional pension.

Buy-to-let is definitely a “sexier” retirement vehicle, and I’m all for making pensions more interesting if it means that people who wouldn’t consider one are now more likely to, but I personally think they should only form a small part of your retirement planning, and that’s if you’ve got the time and inclination to invest in them. Whilst I’d like to think I’d be able to afford to add some buy-to-let properties to my retirement portfolio in the future, the reality is that I’ll probably have to stick to funds.

Pensions vs Buy-To-Let was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

The Fool reports on a few surveys which will give you an idea of which home improvements add the most value. The two surveys quoted don’t completely agree, but they do suggest that a loft conversion will add the most value, adding an average of over £22,000 to the price of a house. In times of general house price uncertainty, this could be a way of ensuring that your property’s value continues to rise.

Of course, it all depends on what the property is like in the first place. But it might give you some food for thought before you start knocking down walls at the weekend.

Should You Build That House Extension? was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

If you’re a first-time buyer struggling to get onto the property ladder, or you’re currently renting a property, you’re probably praying for a crash so that you’ll be able to afford a new home. Whereas current homeowners are likely to wish for further growth in the equity in their houses (despite every other house rising in price, making moving up the ladder more and more expensive). Regardless of your outlook, if you’ve taken an interest in house prices, you’ve probably noticed the conflicting figures that regularly get published. The Motley Fool may have the answer as to why there are so many differences.

Average house prices are reported by a variety of organisations, such as the two large mortgage lenders Nationwide and Halifax, property website Rightmove, and the Land Registry, and you many have noticed that every few months they release figures that rarely match up. As the Fool explains, this is because they all look at different sets of data:

The most important thing to understand is that each index collects data from a different stage in the homebuying process. So, for example, Rightmove looks at asking prices, while the Land Registry publishes data about actual house prices sold in a particular area.

Read more about house prices at the Motley Fool.

Why Do Average Property Prices Vary So Much? was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Firstly, Do Your Financial Homework As A Student looks at pretty much all aspects of money at university, including student bank accounts, student loans, budgeting, renting and insurance.

Secondly, Making A Profit From Student Life looks at things from a slightly different perspective – earning money by letting out a property to students. A growing number of parents are funding their child’s university costs by buying a buy-to-let property, letting their kids stay there and renting out the other rooms.

Student Finance: More Reading was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

The companies target those who need to raise cash quickly, such as those who are about to be repossessed, yet wish to remain in the same house, paying less per month as they were for thier mortgage.

These companies agree to buy homes for 70 to 80 per cent of their market value and pay all relevant fees and costs. In return, sellers get the chance to rent back their homes at a rate less than their previous monthly mortgage payments.

Whilst this might seem like a good option for those in such difficulties, as with most industries, it pays to be wary – in some cases, the companies have bought the houses and subsequently evicted the “tenant” when they’ve found a buyer. Obviously, I’m not saying that all of these companies are capable of doing this, but as they are unregulated, it pays to be a little cautious. Some of the firms only guarantee tenancy for 6 to 12 months, whilst others may guarantee tenancy indefinitely.

Whilst the majority of us would probably not wish to be in such a situation, for others it may just be a way to release equity in their house quickly.

“Sell & Rent Back Your Home” On The Increase was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.

Continue reading this article at the Motley Fool

Motley Fool: Avoiding Home Improvement Hazards was originally published at Money Watch a UK personal finance blog. Sign up to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter.