Budget - 2007

In a budget which has been generally welcomed by the property industry, one aspect of note is that for the first time in many years the transfer duty percentages and the thresholds at which transfer duty kick in have not been changed. Jack Trevena, MD of BondExcel, says it is a good budget in which "[g]overnment expenditure, coupled with powerful economic growth and tempered inflation will augur well for house sales and rises in house prices during 2007 and beyond."

Dr Andrew Golding, CEO of the Pam Golding Group, says that the budget will encourage not only the emerging middle class but the emergence of a new working class which aspires towards home ownership and which will benefit from the government's massive infrastructural programme.
Landlords should also get a better after-tax yield as the budget has provided for tax depreciation allowances of some 5 percent for the economic wear and tear of newly constructed commercial buildings and upgrades. An exemption for stamp duty on lease agreements with duration shorter than five years has also been proposed.

Full articles on property24.com and Business Report

The budget speech and related documents