Pre-Budget Report 2009 - PBR fails to deliver new help for housing industry says KPMG
"The Chancellor failed to deliver any new help for the housing industry, which is disappointing. Although the extension of the existing stamp duty relief for properties under £175,000 is welcome, it is unlikely to help the development of private residential property funds, which cannot usually benefit from the relief, or the other lower rates, when they buy several properties together.”
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Charles Beer, senior partner real estate tax at KPMG comments:
"The Chancellor failed to deliver any new help for the housing industry, which is disappointing. Although the extension of the existing stamp duty relief for properties under £175,000 is welcome, it is unlikely to help the development of private residential property funds, which cannot usually benefit from the relief, or the other lower rates, when they buy several properties together.”
"The creation of larger more professionally run private landlord organizations is part of the government agenda, and it is a pity that the opportunity to remove one of the barriers to this has been missed.”
"Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will also be disappointed that there has been no relaxation in the requirement to pay cash dividends. They had been hoping to be allowed to pay scrip dividends (through the issue of shares) to conserve cash in an exceptionally difficult funding environment.
It is widely acknowledged that REITs and other property investment funds are likely to be a key part of the long term solution both to unwinding the banks' problem property loans and to the health of the wider housing market. It is therefore unfortunate that the Chancellor has failed to assist this process.”
Ends
Pre-budget report media hotline: 0207 694 8773
Katrin Boettger, Senior Manager, KPMG Corporate Communications
Tel: 0207 896 4232 Mobile: 0782 4475168 Email: katrin.boettger@kpmg.co.uk
KPMG Press Office: 0207 694 8773
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kpmgbudget
About KPMG: KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and operates from 22 offices across the UK with 11,500 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a turnover of €2.2 billion in the year ended September 2008. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. We operate in 148 countries and have more than 113,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. KPMG International provides no client services.