Should stamp duty be abolished to help the housing market?

[Dorothyperky]

Nothing is selling in our area over £500k (south).

Every agent near us is seeing less sales and fewer instructions.

Also would it make a difference to you?

It shouldn't be abolished to help the housing market. It should be abolished to make moving house easier. It is effectively a tax on mobility.

No x

I think that new buy to let sales should be banned to help the housing market.

I see that.
I remember being told at hmrc (I worked there) is was a tax on future profits.

It’s literally not that, so whoever told you that at HMRC was making things up.

This.
and stop all the relentless new builds to get control of what’s going on.

@WheretheFishesareFrightening I was 19!

I thought that was CGT

I do not think that buy to let sales should be banned, it’s impossible to find a decent rental as it is.
And yes, I think stamp duty should be reduced or removed.

Yes it should be abolished as it’s demonstrably reducing liquidity in the housing market as so many people are put off moving because of it.

It has also reached fairly obscene levels if you live in some areas - I’m not moving because I can’t bring myself to pay what is probably a six figure tax bill

Should be abolished .

@MidnightPatrol a few friends feel the same. London, Surrey etc. The cost is high as is conveyancing and removal services.
I'm looking at £50k to move and I'm downsizing.

At the very least, the thresholds should be reviewed. It's impossible to even get a studio where we live for less than £250k and you have to a fair bit over £500k to get a two bed terrace.

I do think second homes should be taxed though.

What do you mean by ‘help the housing market’?

Yes, it’s completely stupid.

In London and the South east it basically breaks the housing ladder. Theres no point buying a flat or starter home even if you can afford the mortgage because if you want to move in a few years time you’re going to need 15k+ in cash

In England if they fixed the house buying system and cut stamp duty by at least half the government would get more than its money back plus affordability and productivity will increase

its A tax that has never made sense to me

I learned something watching the telly the other night. It was actually about the American revolution with Lucy Worsley but she mentioned about how one of the taxes that was involved in kicking things off was 'stamp duty' which at the time was a duty on all sorts of literally stamped paper/parchment and then spread to other physical products in the colonies. It already existed but I think George spread it on to other things including property.

So now its a land tax.

Our house was too cheap to pay it and prior to that my property was too cheap I think so I've never paid any.

I’d definitely move house if there was no stamp duty. I think a lot of people are probably in the same boat.

It’s not just stamp duty holding the market back. The cost of debt now is £££ which makes a big difference.

I would prefer they scrap stamp duty and replace with an annual tax.