Budget 2017 – Housing and Property

chancellor

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond announced his Budget today. 

He set the scene by saying “UK economy confounds those who try to talk it down” Hammond quips as he begins his second Budget. The Budget will “seize opportunities” for Britain post-Brexit, the Chancellor says.

The country will be prepared for every eventuality in negotiations he says, by setting aside a £3bn cushion in addition to the £700m already put towards Brexit preparations, and with a willingness to set aside additional funds.

He adds that the country is making technology a major area of priority, and ensuring that borrowing is managed while families are supported with the rising cost of living. 

Housing and Property

The key points on housing and property are below:

Stamp duty has been abolished for first-time buyers for homes worth up to £300,000.

He also added that in high price areas (such as London) the first £300,000 would be free of stamp duty up to £500,000.  He wants the dream of home ownership to become a reality once again.

Council Tax

  • 100% Increase in Council Tax for Empty Homes. 
  • Councils will be able to charge a 100pc council tax premium on empty properties.

£44bn of funding promised over five years to help Government hit 300,000 new homes target

  • A Homelessness Task Force will be formed to tackle homelessness, with a view to eliminating rough sleeping by 2027.
  • He is trying to help younger people get on the housing ladder. Successive governments have failed to build enough homes, the Chancellor says.  He highlights how the rate of young people owning their home has plummeted in recent years but defends the Government’s record on housing, adding that there is no single magic bullet on the issue. 
  • Help to Buy has helped 320,000 to get a home.
  • Hammond also promises to tackle gaps between planning permissions and homes being built with an urgent review to report by March next year.
  • The aim is for this review and funds is to create 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s

Founder and CEO of eMoov.co.uk, Russell Quirk, commented: 

“Today’s budget has amounted to little more than the annual dose of rhetoric and empty announcements of bold plans, extolling a robust intent to build more housing.

The Treasury’s ‘pledge’ to build more homes is a story we’ve been told many times before, but these well-worn, heady platitudes have not been fulfilled since way, way back in 1969 when the Beatles were topping the charts.

The likelihood of hitting the ambitious target of 1 million homes by 2050 is slim, to say the least, and one that is unlikely to be hit. The ‘urgent’ review of the gap in planning permission and the actual building of houses is also far too little too late and should have been implemented many budgets ago.  

The Government must actually execute on a housing plan if the current housing crisis is to be remedied and not just grab headlines with their unqualified so-called intentions. This problem is not just about money. It’s about action and it’s about listening to experts within the industry for once.

A cut in stamp duty for first-time buyers is the only real sign of good intent by Chancellor Hammond and one that may help reignite the property market momentarily, but some may say acts as yet another diversion from the elephant in the room of a continued failure to build a meaningful number of affordable homes. Indeed a cynical electoral bribe.”

 

Photo Source – Huffington Post

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