How not to revive the UK property market

photo credit: showbizsuperstar

Whatever a person’s opinion of journalists, be it an image of men with rolled-up sleeves uncovering dastardly Watergate-style deeds, or snivelling bespectacled weeds out for sordid gossip, few will have not sided with the hacks during the current raft of UK housing market stories.

To recap, earlier this week chancellor Alistair Darling said a range of options were on the table as his department figures out a way to revive the property market. He failed to rule out concessions on stamp duty when asked, an idea apparently stoked by off the record hints from government officials themselves.

Cooling an already freezing property market

Then, on Thursday, following inevitable press speculation over a possible ’stamp duty holiday’, the Treasury swelled up like an irritated toad and filled its pants with a pound coin-shaped turd.

No, it seems, such a measure isn’t being considered. A statement came out saying reports stating this could be on the cards were wrong. Of course, the concern from property investment experts is that people will now be out off buying in the hope such a concession will emerge eventually, worsening the already rapidly-freezing market.

‘They’ll just have to scrap it now then’

All Alistair had to do to avoid all this was so say “no we’re not thinking about that” when the issue came up. Instead the market now faces further avoidable suffocation. The only solution? They’ll just have scrap stamp duty won’t they. Power to the people (and the papers).

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