Alistair Darling should use the upcoming Budget to ease problems faced by people in the housing market, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).
In news that may be welcomed by people looking to buy a house in Scotland, or anywhere else in the UK, NAEA president Stewart Lilly has called on the chancellor of the exchequer to revise the stamp duty scale.
The association proposed a new scale based on a series of thresholds similar to income tax, where only the value of a property which exceeds a limit has the charge levied against it.
Mr Lilly comments: "The government needs to be aware that with inflation rising, consumers need a helping hand. We would like to see a scale of stamp duty that reflects the house price inflation in recent years."
In other news that may be of interest to people looking to buy or sell a house in Scotland, figures from Rightmove suggest that February optimism has seen the average asking price rise to £237,856.