Stamp duty holiday labelled impossible

Implementing a stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers would be impossible to do, it has been suggested.

Speculation has been rife that the government may announce the suspension of stamp duty for first-time buyers in its November pre-budget statement, but Paul Holmes, the chief executive officer of first-time buyer services firm Firstrung, suggested that such a move could be unmanageable.

He said that given the problems the previous government had in managing mortgage interest tax relief, "to try and monitor a situation where only a specific group of buyers doesn't get charged stamp duty would be a nightmare".

The speculation began when chancellor Alistair Darling told BBC Radio 4 that he was contemplating various possible measures, with housing minister Caroline Flint acknowledging in a Newsnight interview later that week that changes to stamp duty is an option under consideration.

One way people can get on the housing ladder without being charges stamp duty is to use the self build method.