Stamp duty holiday 'could save housing market'

Alistair Darling today hinted he is considering suspending stamp duty in a bid to kick-start the flagging housing market. In an interview, the chancellor said he would be announcing “further measures in the autumn to help people with housing and through them the housing market”. He refused to rule out a suggestion a temporary suspension of stamp duty on all house purchases would be the centrepiece of the government's economic recovery plan. The Conservative Party implemented a suspension on stamp duty for eight months in 1992 on property deals up to £250,000, but critics argue it did lit...