ARLA Propertymark managing director David Cox has accused the Government of having an incoherent property policy.

Speaking at yesterday’s Buy to Let Mortgage Debate in London, Cox said the Government favoured promoting home ownership but was actually harming its prospects.

He said: “The Cameron government was all about home ownership; it passed punitive policies against landlords to help first-time buyers. Their view was that first-time buyers would buy those properties instead, but both go for different sorts of property.

“Now rents are going up, making it more difficult for buyers to get on the property ladder.”

Also on the panel was John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages. He said Stamp Duty must be totally reformed.

He said Paragon has seen buy-to-let transactions fall by 40% and warned there is no sign of it improving.

Heron said the number of property transactions has struggled to get above pre-financial crisis levels, which is in part due to Stamp Duty.

He said: “Stamp Duty is constraining transactions at the higher end of the market, which makes mobility difficult further down the chain.”

Fellow panellist David Whittaker, chief executive of Mortgages for Business, said professional landlords were returning to the market after a pause last year but smaller players were sitting it out.

He added: “Some are believing when their representative bodies tell them some of these changes will be repealed.”