By Steven Mulholland

Reform of stamp duty is long overdue.

For years it has acted as a brake on moving house, penalising families for moving and distorting the market.

But replacing it with a blunt new national property tax, as the Chancellor is now reportedly considering, would be a cure worse than the disease.

Such a levy, charged on homes worth more than £500,000, would hit hardest in London and the South East - precisely where housing pressures are most acute. Yet the impact would not remain confined to those postcodes.

When buyers hesitate at the £500,000 threshold, whole chains grind to a halt. Families delay trading up, downsizers stay put, and the knock-on effects ripple through the market.

Developers, seeing demand weaken,........

© LBC