ELECTION: Half of voters who are worried about housing to back Labour
After 14 years of Tory housing policies and 16 ministers, voters who consider housing a 'dealbreaker' back Keir Starmer, a new poll reveals.
Almost half (48%) of voters who see housing as a dealbreaker plan to back Labour, according to the latest poll.
As voting starts for the General Election this morning, Cornerstone Tax’s survey of 2,092 people reveals that the state of housing will influence 25% of voters’ decisions in the election.
Group chairman David Hannah has urged a likely future Labour government to prioritise and support prospective homeowners’ ambitions by reintroducing Multiple Dwellings Relief – the abolition of which restored a historical injustice in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and remains another block for the UK’s property market.
Easing complex local planning systems, which often stymy the pace of new developments, would be another solution, says Hannah.
Unattractive
Local councils could then accelerate the approval process, thereby increasing the supply of homes, while developers would be incentivised to invest in areas previously considered unattractive due to bureaucratic hurdles.
While the Conservatives’ promise to raise the SDLT threshold for first-time buyers marks a step in the right direction, a radical overhaul is necessary to get the bottom end of the housing market moving in the long term, he explains.
“SDLT payment bands have never been index-linked to house price inflation so an increase to these thresholds for all homebuyers would stimulate activity at the lower end of the property market.
“Raising the threshold would have the benefit of taking more properties outside the scope of stamp duty, cutting the cost of acquisition for people looking to climb up the property ladder.”
