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Kirstie Allsopp has told MPs she thinks stamp duty should be abolished, arguing it is damaging the stock of homes for first-time buyers.
The Location, Location, Location presenter told a Treasury Committee hearing she believes the property tax is pushing young people into buying homes they cannot afford and extending smaller homes instead of moving into bigger abodes.
Ms Allsopp joined Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, and Professor Tim Leunig, a director at consultancy Public First, on the panel of experts to speak to MPs on Wednesday about their views on stamp duty.
When Ms Allsopp was asked if she thinks stamp duty should be abolished, she responded: “I do.”
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Kirstie Allsopp has been an outspoken critic of stamp duty (Getty Images)
Asked if she was seeing speculation about changes to stamp duty affecting behaviour in the housing market, she said: “I’m seeing it all the time… what I see is young people buying more expensive houses really than they can afford because they know they can’t pay stamp duty twice.
“The other thing I’m seeing a lot of is people altering two and three-bed houses rather than moving, because the cost of moving is so high.
“I think we’re actually damaging our first-time buyer housing stock because of stamp duty.”
Asked if stamp duty speculation is having a pronounced impact at the moment, she said: “Yes, that is absolutely what I’m seeing, that people are in a panic about it because it has gone up and they think it could go up again. There’s a lot of speculation in the press.”
Her comments come as the Treasury Committee explores a range of potential property tax changes available to chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the 26 November Budget.
Stamp duty is a tax on bought properties charged in England and Northern Ireland. Its rates vary depending on factors including whether you are a first-time buyer, if you are buying an additional property, or if you are a non-UK resident.
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The tax applies to houses bought in England and Northern Ireland (Anthony Devlin/PA) (PA Wire)
The controversial tax has faced opposition from politicians and experts alike. Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, called the tax a “confusing mess”.
Professor Leunig told the Treasury Committee that a point supporting Ms Allsopp’s case against stamp duty was that: “Under Help to Buy, the most common-sized property bought by first-time buyers had three bedrooms.
“And that’s just plain weird, because a three-bedroom house, particularly a new three bedroom house, is usually quite an expensive proposition.
“And people are doing that because then they only then have to pay stamp duty once and they only have to buy it on the first-time buyer rate.
“One of the big problems of the first-time buyer lower rate is it discourages you from buying a cheap first-time buyer property because you don’t get much benefit, and you lose the right to the benefit later.”
Ms Allsopp has previously called it a “vicious little tax which catches people at the some of the most difficult stages of their life”.
