RICS warns against ending "stamp duty holiday"

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has warned that the end of the Government's stamp duty holiday on properties costing up to £175,000 ,will hit the housing market hardest in regions that are already failing to benefit from the recovery.

RICS said surveyors in the West Midlands, East Midlands, Wales and Scotland were all expecting there to be a drop in activity in the market when the level at which the tax kicks in returns to £125,000 at the end of this year.

The average property price in all of these regions falls between the current stamp duty threshold of £175,000 and the old one of £125,000.

Wales and the East Midlands still reporting house price falls than those who were seeing rises, while in the West Midlands a balance of just 3% of surveyors reported price rises.The figures are in stark contrast to London where a balance of 95% of surveyors said the cost of property was increasing during October.

the majority of chartered surveyors did not think the end of the stamp duty holiday would have a distorting effect on the market.especially those in London and the South East because the exemption has had little benefit in these regions as the average house price is well above the temporary £175,000 threshold.

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, it could be said that some areas of the UK hardly even noticed the change."