Stewart Lilly, president of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), has called on Chancellor Alistair Darling to use March’s Budget to ease the immediate problems facing people in today’s housing market.

The NAEA has called for a revision to stamp duty as first-time buyers are being priced out of the market. The association also thinks Capital Gains Tax (CGT) should be revised to create a better incentive, thus enabling investors to buy and sell property more easily, creating fluidity and variety in the market.

NAEA has proposed a series of thresholds similar to income tax, so for example, for a property worth £250,000, the first £200,000 would be under the Stamp Duty limit, meaning Stamp Duty would only be levied on £50,000 at 1% (£500), Suggested stamp duty thresholds are 0% for up to £200,000, 1% for £200,001-300,000, 2% for £300,001-450,000, 3% for £450,001-1m, 4% for £1m and above and 4.5% for £2m and above.
Lilly said: “The Government needs to be aware that with inflation rising consumers need a helping hand. We would like to see a scale of stamp duty that reflects the house price inflation in recent years. We would also like to see a revision of CGT for buy-to-let investors who are fast becoming the back-bone of the private rental sector.”