22th June 2010 is the date of the emergency budget announced by the new government and many in the property market industry are concerned about how new measures will affect them.

The good news is that most professionals working in the UK property market celebrated the government’s decision to abolish Home Information Packs (HIPs). Indeed already there has been an increase in the amount of new properties coming into the market since this decision.

However, the bad news is the idea of tax increases across UK property sales. According to experts, one of the areas expected to be affected is the Capital Gains Tax (CGT). As stated by Liam Bailey, head of Knight Frank residential research: “The CGT rise was less painful than expected, a short-term surge in second-home purchases will follow.”

According to the Telegraph: “From today, higher-rate taxpayers will pay CGT at 28 per cent when they sell assets. Basic rate taxpayers will continue to pay 18 per cent. Treasury officials said that fewer than 100,000 people would pay the new higher rate of CGT each year.”

Owners of buy-to-let properties had expressed particular concern about CGT increases for the last couple of months. Some experts had warned that an important rise would slow down the housing market, but most said that the changes were not as extreme as predicted.

According to Melanie Bien of the Private Finance mortgage broker: “With rumours flying around of an increase to 40 or even 50 per cent, it looks as though the Chancellor bottled it in the face of opposition from back-bench MPs and traditional Conservative voters.”

Another point that needs to be mentioned is that Chancellor George Osborne set out plans to slash the amount of money received by families claiming housing benefit. He has announced a restriction on housing benefits and plans to reduce their cost by almost £2bn in today’s Budget. Housing benefit in the future will be capped at £280 a week for a one-bedroom property and £400 a week for a four-bedroom home, saving £1.8 billion a year by the end of the government.

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