Too little, too late. Bearing in mind that house buyers already pay the government to register their ownership with the Land Registry, this is an outmoded tax on the majority of the populace.

The average house price for a average family is probably, even at today's prices between £180K and £275K so the Government is giving nothing away.

It makes better sense for me for the Government, if they HAVE to tax us on property purchase, to raise the threshold on the lower end to £150K and on the higher end to £350K and then only charge the tax on the balance above the threshold. e.g. price of £340K tax 340-150= 90K Tax is £900. price of £1mil 1000-350= 650K Tax is £6500. Sure the government might lose a bit to waste on their useless projects and MPs expense accounts but what a way to kick start the market!!

I am in the middle of changing home, so far I had to drop £10K because people wern't prepared to pay the 3% tax as it was up at £260K then another £40K because of the market. Total loss £50K. Will the Government re-imburse me? Will they hell!!

Stamp duty on residential property purchase is simply a tax on your right to own the place you live. It's an outdated concept, and doesn't help anyone except the ridiculously high spending government that has spent all the Countries reserves, as we head for the biggest downturn in 2 generations.

There is an old saying that the people get the government they deserve, but we don't derserve Gordon Brown any longer. And frankly, in economic terms, there are very dark days ahead. Start saving, and cut those cards up.

They say this will "help" 50% of buyers - another example of governments manipulating figures if u ask me..

This will have minimal effect at this time anyway as it's the lenders criteria and limitation on the number of mortgage products on offer that has brought things to a halt not £1,250 - £1,750 added to the sale price.

If they really want to help with stamp duty a better move would be to raise the 3% bar from 250k up to say 300k. The properties in the 250k-290k bracket have been slowest to move for a long time and the people most likely to buy them would be the 2nd timers vacating the properties that are needed for the first timers...if that makes sense!!

I have always felt that stamp duty is a grossly unfair tax anyway so from that point I think it will help first time buyers and maybe stimulate some movement. Although,house price falls will damage my wealth.....lol....I am not actually in favour of intervention in the market. The inflationary boom in the market for ten years had become ridiculous to the extent that eventually the bubble had to burst. We have seen relatively modest reductions (around 10%) and that in itself will bring buyers back in at a point of affordabilty.

The days of plenty have gone where property gains fuelled a false perspective of wealth and led to a cycle of debt and borrowings. Overall, the intervention seems well targetted.

The government has announced a stamp duty holiday on houses costing £175,000 or less - with effect from Wednesday 3rd September 2008.

Click here to read more.

What do you think? Will this rejuvenate the housing market and help boost the economy? Does it provide welcome relief to house buyers or is it too-little, too-late?