Budget 2017: Plans for 300,000 more homes a year

In a pre-curser to today’s budget, Phillip Hammond has announced plans that will see 300,000 extra homes built a year.

Speaking on Andrew Marr’s BBC show, he said that: “It is not acceptable to us that so many fewer young Britons are able to own a home”

The Chancellor said that this will be addressed in the Budget, with the government determined to tackle the housing crisis, starting with building an extra 300,000 new homes a year.

However, this was not a promise of extra money with the Chancellor saying there was no ‘magic bullet’ and the government would not be throwing money at the problem.

By speeding up planning permission and giving more help to small building firms, the government hopes to see a revival in the housing market. He pledged to use ‘powers of state’ to ensure planned developments were constructed and included the promised number of homes. The government will also assist in getting more brownfield or contaminated sites ready for use, while smaller sites will be made available to sme builders. Loans to small house-builders will also be guaranteed by the government.

Housing will be a key theme of today’s budget, with the government already showing support through the Help to Buy scheme – there is more pressure to help solve the issues faced by first time buyers, such as mortgage costs, deposits and availability.

While the Chancellor repeated the government’s pledge to assist the next generation of home owners, he fell short of committing to Sajid Javid’s call for some £50bn to help finance a push of house building. He said that the government was following through on its commitment, with new homes being built at record levels seeing some 217,350 properties built in England in 2016.

 

If you would like to read more articles like this then please click here.

The post Budget 2017: Plans for 300,000 more homes a year appeared first on UK Construction Online.