Chance missed to help middle income families

Campaigners had hoped George Osborne would either instigate a sliding scale of stamp duty payments or increase the starting level for stamp duty and the point at which it leaps from one per cent to three per cent.

But although he handed out gifts on the pension and savings front, he did nothing to help those looking for a standard family sized house, complains manager of the agency’s Leamington branch Jane Canning.

“Stamp duty is an issue that needs addressing and it would have been a real boost for people wanting to move into family sized accommodation in this area,” she said.

“There is definitely a divide at this crucial level where buyers are still reluctant to offer over this big jump of stamp duty but cannot move if they are not prepared to take the hit. There is however such a big demand for houses at this level in certain areas close to good schools, that buyers are having to pay as demand is still outstripping supply.

“The problem is that a few years ago a standard family home, a three bedroom semi in a reasonable area, could be bought for £250,000, but now it can be closer to £300,000, which means that it is an unfair tax which is affecting more middle to low income families.

“If the government had given a gesture by increasing the rate at which the three per cent band starts, still set at £250,000 - even by taking it to £275,000 - it would have been a start. I don’t understand why they can’t introduce a two per cent level somewhere. A jump from one per cent to three per cent is penalising hard working families from climbing the ladder. The starting level of one per cent should also have been increased to a minimum of £150,000 as it is way out of step with the market.”