Last week’s Budget was a missed opportunity to rescue the housing market and will have no impact on property buying and selling trends, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).

The association said that the chancellor had ignored proposals to abolish or reform stamp duty land tax and suspend home information packs.

In a five-point plan to ‘rescue the housing market’ the NAEA had also called for improved access to finance for first-time buyers, help for property owners and tenants to stay in their homes and measures to boost liquidity. In the event, Darling announced an extension to the end of the year of the stamp duty holiday on properties worth up to £175,000 and relief from the tax on certain alternative asset-backed finance arrangements, but otherwise left the system unchanged.

He also pledged £500m to improve the housing stock and announced details of the homeowner mortgage support scheme to help borrowers who suffer a temporary loss of income of stay in their homes. The scheme, which has been snubbed by some major lenders, will enable people to cut their mortgage interest payments for up to two years.

Peter Bolton King, the NAEA’s chief executive, said: ‘Merely extending the stamp duty threshold is disappointing.’

Richard Barnett, chairman of the Law Society’s land law and conveyancing committee, agreed, saying the government should have come up with stronger measures to increase lending and get first-time buyers into the market, especially as it owns big stakes in some of the major lenders.

‘We need support from government to make a difference. There is demand from buyers to buy, but currently while there’s the will, there’s no way, as the banks are not lending.’

In a report published with the Budget, the Treasury also proposed efficiency savings at the Land Registry, while saying it would remain within the public sector. The aim is to create a smaller, leaner organisation with a new business structure by 2014, the report of the Treasury’s Operational Efficiency Programme said.