Ed Balls has called for a two-year stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers.

The Shadow Chancellor told the audience at the Labour Party conference that it should be funded by income from telecoms companies’ 4G licences.

A Building Societies Association (BSA) spokesperson said: “Although we are pleased that the Labour Party is looking to make life easier for first time buyers, we are also worried that homemovers and second-time buyers who also need assistance to move, are being overlooked.

“According to the BSA’s September 2012 Property Tracker report, only 13% of respondents cited stamp duty as a barrier to property purchase, so we question whether this will be the most effective means of ‘kick-starting’ the UK economy and may in fact have a negative effect upon consumer sentiment once the holiday is over.

“The BSA believes that the Labour Party and the coalition government should instead be focussing their attention on the slab structure of Stamp Duty, which continues to cause market distortions, particularly unhelpful in such a fragile market.

“Instead, we think such distortions could be removed by charging Stamp Duty on a marginal system similar to income tax with rates being set to ensure there is no net effect on tax revenue.”