One of the country’s leading entrepreneurs has launched a multi-million pound facility to kick-start the housing market - and estate agents will be at the heart of the solution.

Dragon’s Den star James Caan, famous for using his own money to give fledgling businesses a foothold onto the first rungs of commercial life, now wants to help ordinary people climb the property ladder.

Caan is backing a funding package to take the pain out of buying and selling a home. The fund will offer interest-free loans to cover unavoidable costs such as Stamp Duty and legal fees, which is a multi billion pound market.

Access to the loans will be through a network of carefully selected estate agents across the UK. Caan claimed the scheme is all about getting liquidity back into the property market.

There is no chance of the government including a stamp duty holiday for all in the next Budget, an expert has stated.

Peter Cosmetatos, director of finance and investments at the British Property Federation (BPF), said that the organisation is not campaigning for such a move.

“I don’t think there is the slightest prospect that the government would do it, so it would be a waste of time to ask for it,” he said.

While stamp duty brings in only half of what was expected, he continued, it still amounts to “hundreds of millions a month” and he pointed out that the “government’s coffers are pretty bare”.

Last September, the government announced a temporary suspension of stamp duty on properties worth up to £175,000.

The Land Registry has said that 32,985 transactions have been affected by this.

According to HM Revenue and Customs, stamp duty is now one per cent for properties bought for anything between £175,000 and £250,000.

Gordon Brown has today announced that Stamp duty is to be suspended for a year, on properties that cost up to £175,000 in a bid to boost the ailing housing market.

The long-awaited freeze on the unpopular levy is to take place from Wednesday.

It forms part of an emergency rescue package for hard-pressed home buyers and owners.

Gordon Brown has unveiled the flagship scheme to help people who are facing repossession stay in their homes.

The Prime Minister will hope it can tackle spiralling repossession figures and bolster his approval ratings, after Alistair Darling admitted the economy had hit a 60-year low.

Under the scheme, which will cost £1bn, vulnerable families will be offered the chance to sell their home and rent it back at a cheaper price.

They can sell the property to a registered social landlord who will clear the mortgage and then offer them a cheaper price in rent.

They will also have the opportunity to enter into shared ownership of the property.

The policy is designed to help families struggling with mortgages, but also those attempting to get on to the property ladder.

First-time buyers whose household income is less than £60,000 will be able to buy newly built properties with an equity loan of up to 30% of the property’s value.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Homeowners need to know that we will do everything we can to keep the housing market moving forward.

“Help with stamp duty, help for first-time buyers, help to build more social housing, help to take unsold properties off the housing market and help for people who get into difficulties.

“These are the things a government should do to help us come through what is a difficult situation and show that our economy is resilient and will come through these problems.”

Recent figures show that the number of homes being repossessed hit their highest level for 12 years during the first half of the year.