Peter Bolton-King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), commented: "The current Stamp Duty "holiday" for properties lower than £175.000 is due to expire at the start of 2010. The housing market is on the road to recovery; in particular, we're seeing the return of first time buyers. If the Stamp Duty exemption is not extended at this fragile point of recovery, we fear that months of work will instantly unravel causing a great deal of damage to the market.
"The industry is crying out for the Chancellor to take action in his Pre Budget Report next week - in a recent survey by the NAEA, 91% of estate agents called for the threshold to remain at £175,000 for the foreseeable future."
Last month, industry heavyweights added their support to the 1808 Coalition, set up by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) to campaign for the Government to modernise Stamp Duty.
1808 Coalition partners are:
Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI)
Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA)
Building Societies Association (BSA)
Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)
Home Builders Federation (HBF)
National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)
National Landlords Association (NLA)
