Nick Leeming, Chairman of upmarket estate agents Jackson-Stops & Staff, with 44 offices in London and nationwide, said: This has emerged as the Osborne & Little Autumn Statement with little incentive for property buyers at the mid to high-end of the market. It is a tax on mansion buyers. This rate of 12 per cent on properties above 1.5 million will penalise the London market and also hit the country house market, which is still struggling to recover from the recession. However, we welcome the changes on stamp duty at the first-time buyer end of the market as this will help to stimulate activity at that level. Nick Austin, sales manager of Jackson-Stops & Staff Mayfair reports that the Mayfair market felt an immediate impact, he said: One buyer who was purchasing a 2.4m property in London for his children at university decided to pull out last minute - the stamp duty alone was almost equal to paying their rent. However, for some markets, the acceleration of sales ahead of the midnight deadline proved fruitful. Nigel Stubbs, director of Jackson-Stops & Staff Truro, said: Thanks to an accelerated onward-chain sale in Peckham Rye where the new buyer saved almost a quarter of a million in stamp duty, we were able to exchange on a former rectory West Cornwall. The reform has given things a real kick start, which cant be a bad thing.