A survey of over 300 mortgage brokers in the two weeks before Budget found that 46% of intermediaries thought capping CGT so that it remained lower than income tax was the most important measure the Government could take to protect the buy-to-let market.

A further 41% called for the introduction of taper relief although Osborne dismissed this as an option for being too complex.

Only 6% believed he should treat buy-to-let investments as business assets and only 4% thought the best option was too introduce increased CGT rates gradually over a number of years.

Earlier this month Kensington released a report highlighting the importance of private rental housing, within which it revealed that nearly two-thirds of people living in privately rented accommodation are unlikely to buy their own home by 2015.

Charles Morley, head of sales and product development at Kensington, said: “We all knew that Capital Gains Tax was going to rise as part of this Budget and people suggested different options the Government might take to mitigate the impact of this increase on buy-to-let.