The leak was more-or-less accurate, and Stamp Duty's scrapped for homes worth £250,000 or less for first-time buyers. However, transactions of £1m or more will be taxed at a higher rate of 5%, a pretty heavy duty which I suspect will be received with some anger by many in the industry.

Disapproval with the idea of the cut at £250,000 had received a certain amount of disapproval even before it was announced. This, from our friend Henry Pryor, this morning:

Firstly, the number of first time buyers (according to a written answer to a question from the Opposition last November quoting the Council of Mortgage Lenders2) is at an historic low having fallen by 67% in the past decade. Nearly 600,000 1st time buyers bought in 1999 which fell to... less than 194,000 in 2008. Next, with interest rates at record lows, it is irresponsible to encourage property 'virgins' to invest in property when rates can only rise from here removing the tiny saving that they make on the 'bribe' they took to buy in the first place? If a 1% saving is enough to convince you to buy a property today then you haven't done your own budget. Finally, whilst many people including the NAEA and RICS have encouraged the Government to look again at changing the 'slab' like system of the current Stamp Duty system - perhaps to a progressive tax, the housing market has bigger challenges. With buyers unable to find the 25% deposits that most of the few remaining mortgage products demand, houses still remain unaffordable to most of those who would like to be described as a 1st time buyer.

I'll bring you a round-up of the most interesting responses in a linkage post, later in the day.

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