Plan to suspend stamp duty on house purchases to kick start UK housing market?

A very interesting report in the Times today that Gordon Brown is considering suspending stamp duty as an emergency measure to kick start the UK housing market.

Whether this will impact on the market for property for sale in London remains unclear. Certainly suspending the 3% and 4% bands will encourage people to move and trade up or down. With 4% stamp duty on sales over 500,001, buyers have had to fund a 20,000 tax. Quite a substantial dis-incentive to moving.