Estate Agent Today

The Stamp Duty holiday implemented in September 2008 and due to end on December 31, has helped only 115,447 UK home buyers – less than a quarter of the number predicted by the Government to benefit, according to property website Zoopla.

Between September 2, 2008 (when the tax break took effect) and September 1, 2009, the tax relief saved property buyers only £173m, compared to the £600m forecast by the Government.

The extension of the holiday to the end of this year will also provide only limited relief, says Zoopla, with an additional 37,500 buyers expected to benefit in the last four months of this year, saving a further £61m.

Whilst the impact of the tax holiday on buyers has been far lower than expected, the Treasury has been hit hard by the record low property transaction levels, barely scraping in £2billion from Stamp Duty in the 2009/10 tax year compared to almost £6.5billion in 2006/07.

Property buyers in London have benefited least from the Stamp Duty holiday, where typical house values (£374,284) are almost double the national average. Only 13% of transactions in the capital were eligible for the tax relief (£125,000–£175,000 price bracket) between September 2008 and September 2009, far lower than any other region, and saving buyers just £9.4m.

But certain areas within commuting distance of London still offer the opportunity to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday before it expires at the end of the year.

Basildon in Essex tops the list of places where buyers have benefited over the past year with 58% of purchases in the stamp-free price bracket.

Nicholas Leeming, commercial director of Zoopla.co.uk, said: “The Stamp Duty holiday has so far failed to reinvigorate the housing market.”

However, the NAEA has launched a campaign to extend the Stamp Duty break, and also to have the entire system and its thresholds reviewed.