It Might Be In The Budget

In this blog we discuss all the possible situations that may impact on your houses to let in Liverpool… this is no exception.

It is possible the government may use the Budget to announce they’ll build more homes. Will they overhaul the stamp duty system to help first-time buyers or will in concentrate on a mansion tax!

A few days ago, the NewBuy scheme was unveiled by the government, a new-build home could be purchased with a deposit of just 5 or 10 per cent. Obviously this is aimed at helping first-time buyers but what about other socio-economic groups struggling to recover from the economic slowdown. In our experience many homeowners not just first-timers are also struggling to recover from the slowdown.

Alongside this George Osborne is expected to unveil new plans that target the ‘super rich’ with a so called ‘mansion tax’. Around 45,000 homes in England and Wales are thought to be worth at least £2million and would be impacted, with roughly 80 per cent located in London.

Conversely, The Chancellor will also use the Budget to signal a major housebuilding programme which goes hand-in-hand with the NewBuy scheme, with plans for around 500,000 new homes and a relaxation of planning laws.

Many believe that property in the UK is over-taxed in comparison to neighbouring European countries and the Government should be focusing its attention on stamp duty to help get the property market moving. The Chancellor must take more urgent action to make it easier for first-time buyers to get on the first rung of the housing ladder – and to also make it less expensive for existing homeowners to move.

Although the impact of the duty is seen as particularly harsh above the £250,000 threshold, a price level which includes a quarter of first-time buyers in London and the South East the leafier suburbs of Liverpool, Merseyside and Cheshire will also be affected.

The numbers show that even buying a home for £275,000 for example, would see £8,250 go to the Government in the form of stamp duty. This will impact on the rental market, so if you have a house to rent Liverpool, you’ll be rooting for a stamp duty restructure.

We’ll have to wait till Wednesday to find out more.