Stamp duty debate 'causing anxiety'

Recent speculation about the possible freezing of stamp duty has caused considerable anxiety in the housing market, according to an industry expert.

The government's indecision is persuading buyers to be cautious and they are certainly not to looking complete a purchase during what is left of the summer if the current the situation has not been resolved, Simon Preston, chairman of iammoving.com, said.

"The government has caused a lot of anxiety of late about whether they might give relief on stamp duty and obviously that's not going to encourage someone to complete on a house sale in the next couple of months until they come clean on that," Mr Preston explained.

Any buyers desperate to get on the property ladder can circumvent the possibility of paying stamp duty by choosing to self build.

According to thisis.money.co.uk potential homeowners could save thousands because they only have to pay duty on the cost of the land - and only then on a plot that costs in excess of £125,000.