By The Chancellor should use next week’s budget to provide support for the housing market according to a leading property firm.
DJ Alexander Ltd, the largest estate and letting agents in Scotland and part of the Lomond Group, believes that supporting the housing market through more relaxed planning regulations and financial incentives for property investors would benefit the wider economy and boost the sector.
At a time when many are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, the cost of home buying has never been greater.
However, with inflation falling, energy costs expected to reduce this year, and employment remaining strong the Chancellor has an opportunity to send a signal of support for the housing sector and homeowners across the UK at a time when the market is starting to dip.
As a boost to the housing market, he could ease planning regulations to make it easier for new homes to be built.
Providing tax incentives for builders and property investors would give further impetus to produce more homes.
This would, in turn, increase capacity which would stabilise house prices in the future and make it easier for first time buyers to get on to the housing ladder.
David Alexander, chief executive of DJ Alexander Ltd, explains:
“The housing market has been in difficulties for some years now. There are too many buyers seeking too few homes which has resulted in record breaking price rises across the UK.
This produces a volatile market prone to sudden increases and equally rapid price falls.
The market is better served by lower price increases and greater stability.
By providing financial incentives to builders and easing planning restrictions the potential to start to reduce demand would happen quickly resulting in an easing of house price inflation and greater opportunity for more people to buy their first home.
If this was done whilst also initiating a major boost to the building of more social housing then we would see the whole housing market experience a correction and begin to function more effectively in delivering quality homes for the wider population.
Of course, this would not apply in Scotland, but I would hope that if such an initiative was delivered in England it would nudge the Scottish Government into replicating such a move.
Indeed, there are signs that two of the prospective candidates to be First Minister for Scotland (Kate Forbes and Ash Regan) have similar ideas to improve housebuilding volumes by establishing a housing agency to drive delivery by easing planning regulations and identifying potential land sites for development.”
Although I acknowledge that the Chancellor is unlikely to do this it would also be beneficial to the housing market to provide greater incentives to encourage investment in the private rented sector (PRS) to ensure we have a stable market able to provide sufficient homes for the population in the future.
The PRS is an integral part of the housing market yet it can often feel neglected by politicians.
Greater understanding of its importance in providing homes for millions of people is overdue and incentives to remain in the market and invest for the future would be welcome.
The continued freeze on the threshold for Inheritance Tax (IHT) remains at £325,000 which means that if this rate had kept pace with inflation since it was introduced in 2009, it should, by January 2023, be at £474,715.
However, with IHT receipts for April 2022 to January 2023 reaching £5.9 billion, which is £0.9 billion higher than in the same period a year earlier, it seems unlikely the Chancellor will forsake this financial gift which keeps on giving.
Recent announcements have revealed that the Chancellor has more money available than expected and while he is likely to spend some of this in maintaining the subsidy on gas and electricity bills it would be useful and send a positive message if he singled out the housing market for some additional support.
The Conservative party has long been known as the party of home ownership yet there have been times in recent years when it hasn’t felt like that.
A move to support the housebuilding sector coupled with some direct relief for homeowners in terms of stamp duty and IHT would keep the market buoyant in the next couple of years and provide a feelgood message from a government facing a tricky general election in around 20 months’ time.”
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