Chancellor George Osborne has been told in no uncertain terms not to blame any decision to leave the EU for damaging the housing market.
London agent Maskells has told Osborne that the market is already damaged, and that he is the cause because of hikes to Stamp Duty on more expensive homes.
Its data shows that sales in central and south-west London have slumped badly.
Maskells analysed volumes over the last two years in 104 postcodes.
In the price brand £250,000 to £925,000, sales are down 47.8%. In the band between £925,000 and £1.5m, sales have dropped 7.8%. And in sales over £1.5m, there has been a drop of 58.2%.
Out of the 104 postcodes, volumes had risen in only two between the first quarter of 2014 to the same period this year.
Maskells also found that average prices had fallen in all three brackets, down 12%, 14% and, at the top end, by 35% respectively between the last quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of this year.
Although 46% of house prices in the 104 postcodes had risen, 54% had gone down. The most house price rises were in the lowest band under £925,000.
Maskells says that both house price falls and drops in transactions show the effect of the increase in Stamp Duty Land Tax announced in late 2014. At £925,001, the rate jumps from 2% to 5%.
While Osborne has warned that a Brexit could hit house prices, Charles Curran, principal at Maskells, said: “The market has been fundamentally changed as a result of the Chancellor’s actions over the past 24 months and his blaming further housing market turmoil on a Brexit is just a further poke in the eye to the market.”
Comments (8)
Its interesting that every chancellor blames other forces when things go wrong and yet states ‘ what I’ve done is working’ when things go right. Osborne is following Darling and Brown before him.
They ought to introduce a mandatory “Pre-Budget Risk Assessment” and publish it after the budget.
Im gonna vote for the Green party next time. it wont help the housing market but then again they certainly cant do any worse than Mr Osborne.
Thanks Mr Osborne you really are a very annoying little man, I hope you lose your seat in the next election.
Be careful what you wish for. The Green Party wanted to disallow mortgage interest as a business expense completely which, if Sec24 is going to decimate the PRS, would result in the total destruction of the PRS. Rents of remaining properties would skyrocket, there would be mass homelessness, and probably riots on the streets.
Keep it to yourself.
Mr Osborne might be reading this and you’ve just given him another idea !
Couldn’t agree more. The man’s a lunatic – and I’m a Conservative. He’s some kind of hard-left socialist. SDLT and Section 24 will cause the very crash he and the BOE claim they want to avoid. They’re pushing us over a cliff edge whilst claiming it’s good medicine for us. Morons.
A chancellor that has presided over lower transaction volumes, frightening off both foreign and UK investors, reduced stamp duty revenues and higher rents for tenants.
Way to go George. If I had actively recruited you to interfere with and screw up the UK housing market I would be delighted at how well you had done.
Not just London either. Home Counties and other expensive areas too. Higher taxes always lead to lower taxes eventually. We have the most left wing Tory Chancellor in a long time, hell bent on raising more and more tax from fewer and fewer people. Our business saw the top end of the market under increasing strain when the top rate rose to 7%. At 12 or 15% it should come as no surprise that the number of top end transactions will reduce. The EU poll has nothing whatsoever to do with this.