Among the measures announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown was the exemption of ‘zero carbon’ houses from Stamp Duty for a limited period, the commitment to open up further brownfield sites and therefore create room for 130,000 new homes and further investment in shared equity housing, with the target of 160,000 properties in the next four years.
However, a lack of commitment to change the boundaries on Stamp Duty and Inheritance tax (IHT) has caused upset.
Adrian Coles, director-general of the Building Societies Association, was upbeat on what had been announced. “The Chancellor has thrown down the gauntlet by explicitly linking carbon neutral homes to the Stamp Duty regime, Brown has provided the incentive to build greener homes.
“There has been a fundamental mis-match between supply and demand. The commitment to 130,000 new homes will make a real difference to people who have struggled to get on the housing ladder.”
However, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Halifax admitted their disappointment at the decision to ignore IHT and Stamp Duty, for existing homes.
Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax, said: “It is disappointing that the Chancellor has not taken the opportunity today to reform property related tax. Change is long overdue to bring these thresholds up-to-date. We call on the government to raise the higher Stamp Duty thresholds and the IHT threshold in line with the increase in house prices over the past decade.”
