Stamp holiday cost Treasury more than £6bn

House buyers saved £6.4bn thanks to the stamp duty holiday. According to Savills, roughly half of the savings benefitted those buying properties over £500,000. Property experts have questioned whether the stimulus was necessary, given the level of pent-up demand at the time. Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills, said: “I think they will look back on it and realise it has been quite a generous tax break at a time when the market is quite strong.” The FT (£)