What Does the Autumn Budget Mean for the Housing Market?

Chancellor Philip Hammond’s 2018 Budget can probably best be described as “steady” for the housing market.

Housing was by no means central to the Budget, but there were still several initiatives designed to increase house building and support first-time buyers.

An extra £500 million has been allocated to the Housing Investment Fund to enable a further 650,000 new homes to be built, and the housing revenue cap for councils has been removed, which is designed to kick-start more social housing schemes.

Small house builders will be encouraged through a guarantee scheme while an official response to the Letwin review into house building delays will be published in the new year.

In good news for first-time buyers, the Help to Buy equity loan scheme has been extended by two years. It was originally due to end in April 2021, but will now continue until the end of March 2023, hopefully allowing more people to get on the housing ladder.

Stamp duty relief for first-time buyers has also been extended to those purchasing a shared-ownership property up to £500,000, and will be applied retrospectively to purchases since November 2017.

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