To say that ‘Nero’ Brown is fiddling while the housing market burns would be absurd; most people now agree that the first century Roman Emperor was probably playing the Lyre, if anything. (Interestingly, like the PM, Nero found a scapegoat to blame for events; in his case the Christians, rather than his predecessor.)

However, the recent package of measures aimed at helping give the property market a boost are unlikely to make any difference in the real world (as opposed to Westminster, which seems to be becoming increasingly like the wizard’s realm of Oz).

Increasing the stamp duty threshold from £125,000 to £175,000 will be of little benefit to the vast majority of homebuyers and is unlikely to provide any significant stimulus to the market. The reason for this is simple; in many parts of the country, average prices are still above this level for any reasonable property and as soon as the price hits £175,001 stamp duty cuts in at £1,750. The 3% band then hits just £75,000 higher, so that a purchase of £250,001 produces a stamp duty of £7,500.

Any realistic administration would know that this change is insufficient to make much of a difference even to those few buyers who could benefit. All they need do is wait for prices to fall a little lower and they will save far more than is offered by a modest stamp duty holiday.

The real problem with stamp duty is that it is an “all or nothing” tax. Step over the threshold and the stamp duty rate applies to the entire purchase price. A more realistic basis would be for the system to be altered to top-slicing, so that the rate only applies to the purchase price above the threshold. This would mean that, for a purchase of £300,000, the duty would be £2,250 rather than £9,000. That could boost the entire market!

One could ask who will pay for this. But if no homes are sold, the government receives no income from Stamp Duty at all; kick-starting the market would at least generate some revenue, as well as benefiting the economy generally by boosting confidence.

Other moves made may be more helpful; in particular interest free five-year equity loans for 10,000 first-time buyers could work as it will presumably replace the need for young people to find a massive deposit; however, until the details are seen, this will be unclear. In addition, the mortgage rescue scheme may help those who are overextended with high-loan-to value mortgages.

But the government could make just as large a difference to the number of new properties coming onto the market, at no cost to the taxpayer, by scrapping the deeply unpopular and largely ineffective Home Information Packs.

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