Stamp duty debate 'has caused housing market anxiety' Published: 27/08/2008

According to new research from iammoving.com rumours that the government may bring an end to stamp duty "has caused housing market anxiety".

The chancellor, Alistair Darling, hinted in an interview earlier this month that stamp duty would be temporarily halted in a bid to revitalise the housing market as a whole, but the chairman of iammoving.com says that the implication has fanned buyers' fears.

Furthermore, a new study from the National Association of Estate Agents found that a quarter of agents blamed the interview for subsequent property sales cancellations.

Simon Preston, chairman of iammoving.com, said: "The government has caused a lot of anxiety of late about whether they might give relief on stamp duty and obviously that's not going to encourage someone to complete on a house sale in the next couple of months until they come clean on that."

Tabloid newspaper the Sun jumped on Mr Darling's response to focus on the stamp duty issue. The duty currently provides the Treasury with around £6.5 billion every year, and its suspension would have a big impact on the price of a property.

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