Housing will be at the heart of this week’s Budget with Chancellor Philip Hammond set to get tough on developers and councils holding onto land and banks that won’t lend to small builders.
Hammond wants to increase the number of homes being built a year to 300,000 and said that fixing the lack of homes on the market, including affordable homes is a top priority, with the biggest number set to be built in areas of most need.
He told the Sunday Times that the government would do ‘whatever it takes’ to get homes built including cracking down on land banking and underwriting loans to small house builders if necessary.
He explained that there will be around £5bn available for housing schemes and a pledge that moves will be taken to make sure the infrastructure is in place for home building. But he is not set to borrow to fund the construction of new homes.
Official figures published last week showed that more new home are being built, amounting to 217,000 more than last year but the Chancellor acknowledged that this is not enough. “I’m clear that we need to get to 300,000 units a year if we are going to start to tackle the affordability problem with the additions coming in areas of high demand,” he said in the interview.
“We will not allow the current young generation to be the first since the Black Death not to be more prosperous than its parents’ generation. We won’t allow that to happen. Fixing the housing market is a crucial part of making sure that doesn’t happen,” he added.https://www.mortgageintroducer.com/hammond-housing-heart-budget/#.WhPfqUqWbIU
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