Ahead of the Budget, Andrew Ellinas, Director of Sandfords comments on what he would like to see the Chancellor announce today.
March 16, 2016
“Unlikely to happen, but Mr Osborne needs to start reversing the stamp duty changes he has made. Over the last four years there has been an unfair amount of tax changes including stamp duty, land tax and capital gains. Landlords and homeowners have been completely restricted with these additional tax charges, all of which have been very damaging on the housing market as a whole. The most recent change, the 3% surcharge on buy-to-let and second home properties, due to begin on 1st April, will undoubtedly deplete the level of rental stock. Not only will people then not be able to afford to buy they won’t be able to rent either.
These so called ‘clampdowns’ as part of a spending review package are having a negative impact on the housing market. The Government has done what they always do and has been far too heavy handed causing the industry to suffer. Far from the conservative party being the property industry’s friend, they have in fact been our enemy making it increasingly more difficult and expensive for people to be able to afford to buy.
In addition to this, it looks like the Chancellor is going to make another step tomorrow that will again knock the property market when he announces an insurance premium tax; an increase in home insurance payments.
All of these tax changes have created a fairly static market, particularly in the London market. It doesn’t help that people are sitting on their hands until a decision is made on whether we stay in the EU or not, but something needs to change and I would like to see the Chancellor reverse some of the tax hikes he has implemented. The last thing he should be doing right now is making it more difficult for people by tightening their finances even further.”
You May Also Enjoy
Landlords and tenants advised to work together to get through extreme heatwaves
With some areas set to be hotter than Portugal this week, lettings and estate agents across the UK are issuing advice to protect properties ahead of extreme weather Prolonged periods of hot weather across the UK are placing additional pressure on homes, from overheating and poor ventilation to damage caused by extreme temperatures. Today, lettings…
Read More 
Nearly half of UK home listings fail to sell
A London estate agent has warned that thousands of homeowners across the UK are pricing themselves out of the market by setting asking prices that no longer reflect what buyers are willing to pay. The warning comes after new analysis by Zoopla, covering more than two million property listings between 2023 and 2026, found that…
Read More 
Lowest number of new build developments coming to market since 2017
New analysis from the UK’s largest property platform Rightmove reveals that the number of new build housing developments coming to market is at its lowest level since January 2017 The figures are despite the government’s target to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament Higher mortgage rates continue to set a challenging…
Read More 
What Every Estate Agent Should Tell Clients Before Moving Day
For most estate agents, the job is done once contracts are exchanged, completion takes place, and the keys are handed over. For your client, however, that’s when one of the biggest challenges begins. Moving day has the power to turn months of excitement into an incredibly stressful experience, or a smooth finish to what has…
Read More 
Breaking Property News 9/7/26
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X. PropTech is evolving but WhatsApp is still winning the Property transaction battle A home-moving process that a decade of PropTech failed to fix Thought leadership by Olivier Jauniaux Founder of NestLink There are a particular series of messages, somewhere in every property chain, that decides whether…
Read More 
Heatwaves haven’t diminished love for south-facing gardens
The latest research from Yopa reveals that despite 81% of people saying they have been avoiding their garden during the recent heatwaves, south-facing gardens continue to be the preferred orientation of choice for UK homeowners, attracting house price premiums of over £20,000 on average. However, the insight from Yopa also suggests that should heatwaves become…
Read More