Did you watch the budget? At JDG we took a keen interest in the housing market announcements for obvious reasons.
When it came to the Housing Market, Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget announced funding for new home building, the redevelopment of brownfield land, and removal of dangerous cladding. There is also funds to speed up the planning process.
New Home Building
A key point was a commitment to build more new homes. £24 billion was committed to this multi-year project. £1.8 billion of this was assigned to the re-development of brownfield sites which will create one million new homes. A whopping £11.5 billion has been assigned to the affordable housing sector with the aim of turning generation rent into generation buy.
Removal of dangerous cladding
Next on the list was the announcement of £5billion for the removal of dangerous cladding to high-rise buildings. Whilst we are not affected by this locally, those that live in these apartment buildings across the Uk, including Manchester, will be feeling very relieved. This will be partly funded by a developers tax of 4% on those larger developers that have profits in excess of £25 million.
Planning
The Chancellor has also promised £65 million to improve England’s planning system, including digitization to allow easy access to local plans. We can only hope this helps speed up Lancaster’s Planning department. It took 8 months to get a response from the planners for one of our own projects, and I think the whole of Morecambe is waiting with bated breath for an announcement on the Eden Project which has now been delayed to after Christmas!
Did the budget meet your requirements or hopes? We know many people were hoping that Stamp Duty might be scrapped, however, there was no mention of this and realistically, whilst people have saved on paying stamp duty, the realism is that this “holiday” was one of the reasons that helped push property prices up, in many cases, byu more than the saving.
The Chancellor described the economic picture as “strong” in the short term, with the Office for Budget Responsibility expecting the economy to return to pre-pandemic levels 6 months earlier than expected. It’s going to be an interesting ride!
If you would like to chat about the local housing market, buy to let opportunities and the potential value of your home, please get in touch. At JDG we are here to help!
Thanks for reading
Michelle