Ministers should scrap stamp duty on residential home purchases to help older people downsize, a think-tank has urged.
Policy Exchange said the £14billion tax stagnates the property market by penalising retirees looking to sell large homes.
Former prime minister Liz Truss cut stamp duty for home buyers in September and Rishi Sunak kept the measure. But Policy Exchange found people are still disincentivised from moving, leaving elderly couples living in partially empty houses. An average home would attract a stamp duty bill of £2,3000 while a £524,000 house - the average in London - would attract a bill of £13,700. Research from buying agency Ludgrove estimated cutting stamp duty by a third would boost property sales by 40 per cent and bring in £1.4billion in tax revenue.
Daily Mail
Rachel Maclean has been named as the new housing minister - the 15th since the Tories came into power and the sixth to hold the post in the past 12 months.
Lucy Frazer has been promoted from Housing Minister to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Rishi Sunak's latest Cabinet reshuffle. Frazer spent just three months in the role of Housing Minister.
We await news of our new Housing Minister.
The Bank of England has raised UK interest rates by a further half a percentage point to 4% but it gave its clearest signal yet that borrowing costs may now be nearing their peak.
homebuyers taking out a mortgage with several of the nation's largest lenders will have an extra three months added to the length of their deals.
Halifax has extended the duration of its mortgages for new buyers this week. This comes as many homeowners have struggled to complete on purchases and property chains have fallen apart.
For homebuyers securing a two-year fix, the extension would increase a mortgage term from 24 months to 27. The move will help to counteract delays in conveyancing or completing a purchase.
Lloyds bank and Darlington Building Society have also extended their mortgage deals by three months and Leeds Building Society increased its mortgage terms by one month.
Daily Mail
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