Kirstie Allsopp tears Reeves to shreds over huge blunder: 'Not seen anything like it'

Kirstie Allsopp has accused Rachel Reeves of killing Britain's housing market ahead of her Budget in November. The Location Location Location co-presenter said the market has stagnated after a raft of proposals were made public.

She said: "The market has stopped. It's dead... Nobody is moving. Everyone is waiting." Allsopp said "paralysis" has resulted from the Chancellor flying "a whole load of kites", meaning proposals around property policies. She added: "I've never seen the market like it."

The TV presenter singled out one proposal which would see taxes imposed on sellers of property worth over £500,000. She told the Telegraph homeowners would question whether to invest in their homes and move if they were going "to be punished for it". The Government has denied the £500,000 proposal.

Allsopp also blamed "transaction taxes", including stamp duty, for putting buyers off. She slammed the increase in the stamp duty surcharge on second homes to 5%.

Her comments came after Santander UK warned Britain's property-buying process is "antiquated" and sales which fall through cost the economy at least £1.5billion per year.

The banking giant's calculations show more than half a million failed transactions a year across England and Wales cost consumers about £560million directly, with a £950m hit to the wider economy.

The research was based on economic analysis from WPI Economics, as well as a survey of more than 2,300 consumers by JL Partners carried out in July.

It estimated that about 530,000 housing transactions fail each year in England and Wales.

To help prevent sales falling through, Santander wants to see gazumping, where a seller accepts another higher offer on their home after previously verbally agreeing a deal, and gazundering, where a buyer reduces their offer at the last minute, disincentivised.

The bank also wants to see better up-front collation of information from those involved in transactions.

Official figures show annual growth in house and rental prices has been slowing. The average UK house price increased by 2.8% in the 12 months to July, slowing from 3.6% in the year to June, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Across the UK, the average house price in July was £270,000. Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: "Rents and house prices are slowing across the UK as housing demand cools and affordability pressures bite on what people can pay for rent and mortgages.

"This has big implications for home building where weaker demand is holding back investment in growing supply."