"New deals" as stamp duty holiday ends

Graham_Devon

First-time buyers are being urged not to rush into hasty property transactions just to benefit from the stamp duty holiday which is due to end next month.

Anyone buying a home worth less than £250,000 is exempt from paying the normal 1% stamp duty until 24 March.

The tax band is being reintroduced because the Chancellor George Osborne believes the holiday has been ineffective in letting more people buy a home.

Instead the government is introducing other incentives to persuade lenders to offer loans to potential buyers.

Property market commentator Henry Pryor says people should not buy a home now just to beat the deadline.

''People must remember that the value of property can go down as well as up," he says.

"House prices over the last 12 months have fallen by 1.2% according to the Land Registry.

"If they were to continue to fall at that sort of rate or more, as some commentators are suggesting, then clearly the saving you are going to make will be wiped out very swiftly,'' Pryor adds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16989215

Does not go on to suggest what these "new deals" will comprise of, but talks about Shared Equity schemes. So based on past performance, I would assume the government is looking at yet another shared equity/ownership deal when they talk of a "new deal" to replace the outgoing stamp duty holiday.

Anyone care to guess what the new deal may be?

Will it be another deal where you are confined to the properties they offer under the terms they off (at a higher price). Or will it be a more generous scheme which will actually do something?