10
Dec
Chancellor announces continued support for homeowners
Alistair Darling has announced that the government will continue to
support homeowners facing difficulties with mortgage payments in
his pre-Budget report on December 9th.
The chancellor revealed that the Support for Mortgage Interest
scheme will be extended for a further six months, helping
homeowners until June 2010.
However, many industry bodies have criticised Mr Darling for
failing to extend the stamp duty holiday for properties valued at
less than £175,000.
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) described the tax
as unfairly distorting the property market.
NAEA chief executive Peter Bolton King commented: "It [stamp duty]
is prohibitive to people looking for a step up the housing market
and unfairly penalises people investing in buy-to-let
portfolios."
He called on the government to reform the tax and stated that the
chancellor had "missed an open goal" by avoiding the issue in his
statement.
Mr Darling asserted that 240,000 homebuyers had benefited from the
suspension of the tax on lower-value properties, however, he made
no mention of extending the scheme.
