News

Stamp Duty
Stamp duty in Scotland changes on 9 October 14 and will be implemented in April 15, but we would do well to remind ourselves that this is a major source of revenue rather than a controller of house prices. It therefor follows that when the changes come, they may get rid of some of the distortions in the market, but no Government is going to give up that source of income, indeed the net changes in October may well see an introduction of a lower rate at a lower level. The chart below shows the current situation for 1013/14 to date, you know where your own house lies. This coupled with restricted lending and banking criteria much more stringent, gives the purchaser quite a large deposit to accumulate. In theory 95% lending is back, but in practice it is hard to qualify for more than 75%, add that to the chart below and you will understand why the current buyer would think twice.
However, buyers are returning, we have received an increase in viewings and offers in the last couple of weeks, life would appear to be getting back to normal!

We look forward to the 9 October to see how the above tax gets redistributed, it certainly won’t reduce the revenue it collects and since Scotland’s average price is considerably lower than the South I guess we will see the bottom end of the market starting to contribute. (In the name of fairness of course!!)
So now would be a good time to make an offer!