THE Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has called for a restructure of stamp duty as the holiday on the tax comes to an end.
People have not had to pay stamp duty on properties priced between £125,000 and £175,000 over the past year but this is due to finish on December 31.
RICS says this will hit areas such as the east and West Midlands, Wales and Scotland where the average price of a home is within the bracket. In London and the south east there has been little impact.
The stamp duty holiday has also had no affect in the north, where the average price is below the threshold, at £116,051.
Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “At the time of its introduction, we did question how great an impact this policy would have and judging by the fact that only surveyors in certain parts of the country are particularly concerned about the ending of the holiday, some areas of the UK hardly even noticed the change,’ he said.
“However the additional transaction cost is still a worry to many, particularly first-time buyers, and is a threat to the market in the areas of the country that are still seeing a weak price environment.
“A return to the status quo will be of benefit to no-one, and as such RICS believes that rather than simply reverting back to the old structure for stamp duty, the imminent change provides an opportunity for the government to introduce a wholesale restructuring of the tax.”
He added: “Specifically RICS favours moving from the current slab structure to a marginal system with no homebuyer paying anything on the first £150,000 of their new home.”