Government scheme will 'prop up the property market'

A national campaign for affordable housing has claimed that the government's stamp duty holiday is not going to help first-time buyers.

The PricedOut campaign has suggested that the measures introduced are only advantageous to developers who have excess properties and those investors who want to make bigger returns on their buy-to-let properties.

Katy John, from the PricedOut campaign, said that the government's new measures "may prop up the property market" but they believe the housing market in its current state is "over-inflated and unsustainable".

Ms John said that the new measures by the government would probably only "have the impact of adding whatever could be saved in stamp duty to the cost of the average house".

In addition to the government's announcement that stamp duty would only apply to properties worth £175,000 or less until September 3rd 2008, there was also a loan scheme.

Open only to those households who earn less than £60,000, the HomeBuy Direct programme would give those people an equity loan of up to 30 per cent of the value of their house.

Property Investment News posted on 03/09/2008 15:26:34