15th
Jan 2021
The Location, Location, Location TV star and property expert Phil Spencer has issued a stark warning that “chaos” and “mayhem” will damage the housing market if the Chancellor fails to extend the stamp duty holiday.
In a recent interview with Graham Norton on Virgin Radio he said: “I think chaos would ensue if the stamp duty holiday did end on a specific date, because everybody would be working towards that day.
“It’s great to keep people motivated towards that day but actually, if they haven't completed their deals on that date, the chances are that deals will be collapsing left right and centre. It will just be bedlam.”
However his dire prediction on the radio show is by no means the first time the star has made public his views on the subject.
A week or so ago before Christmas he tweeted: “The stamp duty holiday has been successful in activating the market. Ending on a cliff edge will create utter chaos! Surely it can be phased out? Timescales on deals slip more often than they don’t. The motivation behind people moving could disappear in a single day. Utter madness!"
There have been numerous suggestions to help ease the problem one of which is to introduce a tapered extension to the current deadline of March 30th; further delays in sales are because many involved in the transaction process of selling a home currently have to work from the home.
An online petition for the extension of the stamp duty first appeared in October which has in the past fortnight jumped up from 33,000 signatures to well over 54,000.
Spencer also added: “The market is surprisingly busy and surprisingly buoyant. And given the housing market is generally driven by sentiment, I would have thought it should be dragging along the floor at the moment. But there's an awful lot of people trying to do an awful lot of deals just at the moment.”
Spencer’s TV co- presenter Kirstie Allsopp also appeared at the same time on the Virgin Radio programme, stating that she had severe misgivings around the growing reliance on internet listings and virtual tours that have become a mainstay in presenting properties during the pandemic.
Allsopp told Norton: “I think house hunting on the internet is overrated. You can achieve a lot in terms of finding out about the local area. You've got the brilliant aerial shots, but it's a very physical auditory, nose, see, smell, taste, touch type thing.
“I think there's been a bit of people thinking that they've seen something when they've seen it over the Internet and that's not seeing something.”
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