Tag Archives: UK Property

UK’s Lib Dems outline plans to tax £1m homes

The starting point is to aim for fairer, not higher taxes, says spokesman

Liberal Democrat lawmaker Vince Cable outlined plans for a tax on homes worth more than £1 million (S$2.3 million) and a tightening of rules on capital gains tax.

The property tax, which would charge 0.5 per cent a year on the value of a property above the £1 million threshold, would provide funds to lift four million of the lowest paid people out of income tax, Mr Cable, economic spokesman for the third-largest UK party, told British Broadcasting Corp television.

‘The Liberal Democrat’s starting point is to aim for fairer, not higher taxes,’ he said.

‘As chancellor my priority would be to cut income tax for those on low and middle incomes.’ Property is used in the UK to raise money for local governments, with the highest council-tax levy charged on homes valued at more than £320,000 in 1991. It is unfair that people owning family homes in the top band pay the same as those in houses worth up to £50 million, Mr Cable told the BBC. His proposal would result in a tax of £2,500 on 1.5 million homes and £15,000 on homes costing £4 million. Continue reading

Battered owners hopeful as home sales, prices rise

But analysts remain sceptical on the longer-term outlook for property prices

For homeowners around the world struck by the collapse of property markets, figures showing the downward spiral may be halting are the most meaningful signs yet of a possible economic recovery.

As battered banks and stocks rally again, news that US house prices are finally rising after nearly three years of traumatic decline offers the greatest hope to hard-pressed homeowners from California to Krakow.

The sub-prime home loan crisis in America was the pressure-point that exposed underlying global financial chaos – and many economists say that property prices there are the linchpin for confidence in broader economic recovery.

US home sales have been rising and the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller index of home prices in 20 major US cities showed a 0.5 per cent increase between April and May – the first monthly rise since 2006.

‘This is the first time we have seen broad increases in home prices in 34 months. This could be an indication that home price declines are f Continue reading