Stamp duty still to end on 1st Jan 2010

Pre-budget report - Chancellor Darling has not extended the stamp duty holiday. Stamp duty will now be charged at 1% on properties bought over £125K.

Properties under £175,000 are currently exempt from stamp duty, but the threshold is due to return to the original £125,000 level next year. Chancellor Darling could have extended the stamp duty holiday or better still reformed the stamp duty levels completely. He has chosen to ignore this completely and handed another blow to the property market.

The government has however extended its support for the Mortgage Interest Scheme for a further 6 months.

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House prices increase again in November

November sees another rise in the average house price, the average house price now around the levels seen early 2006.

According to Nationwide's House Price Index another 0.5% rise in November like that shown in October this leaves the aveage house price now at £162,764. The average house price of a typical property is now a 2.7% higher than a year ago and now at a similar level to where it was in early 2006 eighteen months before the start Northern Rock debacle. The 3 month on 3 month rate of change - generally a smoother indicator of the near term trend - dropped to 2.8% from 3.5% in October and 3.8% in September. This suggests that house prices are now rising at a more moderate pace than in the spring and summer months, when they experienced a very strong bounce form the early 2009 lows.


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