Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Autumn budget announcement in October has received a varied response from the property industry of the UK.
Rishi Sunak announced a ’multi-year housing settlement’ of £24bn, which includes £1.8bn on homes for brownfield land and £11.5bn for affordable housing that was announced earlier this year. £5bn has been allocated for the removal of cladding on unsafe residential buildings. Sunak also announced 3 tax reforms and ruled out abolishing business rates. The plan also includes a 3-year revaluation (starting from 2023) along with relief on green investment for businesses. Other relief plans include a 50% business rates discount for the Food & Beverage sector, hospitality, and retail for 12 months.
The Chief Executive Of Audley Group, Nick Sanderson, shared his views on the Autumn Budget 2021 saying: “The Treasury announcing 160,000 greener homes on brownfield sites again shows that the government is totally missing the point when it comes to the issues in the housing market. They have no drive to address the root cause of the issue and this will once again do nothing but paper over the cracks, allowing a broken system to remain broken.”
“In this budget, there is no detail on the types of houses the government wants to see built, yet that’s the real question that needs to be addressed. We have enough homes. That’s never been the problem. The government’s focus has to shift to specialist housing, and fast. This will both free up homes, while simultaneously taking pressure off stretched care services. It’s never going to be greener to build more when the solution is to build smart.”
“Planning reform is at the centre of this and the announcement that England’s planning system will be digitized is a step in the right direction. It is however essential that this does not replace education and support for planners to facilitate the building of more suitable housing across the UK, particularly specialist housing with care and wellbeing services attached. The knock-on effect will be huge: it will create much-needed movement in the market while also taking away some of the intolerable pressure from hospitals and residential care.”
The Chief Executive Of The British Property Federation, Melanie Leech Said: “The chancellor confirmed again that levelling up is at the core of the government’s policy agenda and gave some indication of how public spending will be used to support critical building blocks such as infrastructure and housing supply.”
“The £1.8bn allocated to brownfield development is a positive commitment to regeneration and will unlock underutilized sites across the country and create new opportunities for SME property investors and developers.”
“We will need to see further details in the promised to level up white paper to understand how the millions of pounds of investment our sector represents can partner effectively alongside national and local government to deliver the built environment which is critical to levelling up across the country.”
“While a move to three-year revaluations is welcome, we continue to urgently call for annual revaluations. Businesses need to see long-term reductions in the rates they pay rather than short-term fixes. The current practice of downwards transitions needs to end and would give high streets an £8.5bn boost and enable them to forward plan and protect jobs.
“We are pleased that the chancellor has also responded directly to the BPF’s call for business rates relief to encourage building improvement and to support the transition to net-zero. This will give a significant boost to investment in revitalized, more sustainable town centres.”
Chris Dietz, Executive Vice President, Global Operations Of Leading Real Estate Companies Of The World Said: “It was fantastic to see the government take decisive action on business rates, with the case for reform stronger than ever. A sensible policy, which balances the considerations of local councils with the businesses required to inject life into our town centres, is an essential part of a strategic rethink for the retail sector, and we feel today’s announcement is a step in the right direction.”
“The developer tax is an interesting one because the cladding crisis is going to require a cohesive, joined-up approach on the part of government and industry, but I’m not sure whether the sort of income that is being quoted will have any meaningful impact. We’re talking a matter of years before the levy can begin being distributed to solve a crisis almost at breaking point today and one that needs action now. We also need to consider the impact on stock levels given that the market is suffering from a huge supply/demand imbalance at present.”
Executive Director of London Property Alliance, Charles Begley shared: “Following the recent publication of our joint report on ‘City Region Connectivity’, and engagement with a range of senior political figures during the party conferences, we welcome the chancellor’s announcement today.
“The confirmation of a £6.9bn funding package, which takes forward many of our recommendations on improving inter-city connectivity across city regions, will provide a boost to our cities and help enable them to fulfil the potential of the talent and skills of businesses and people throughout the country. Continued investment in all cities, including London, is critical to the economic and social prosperity of the UK, particularly as we continue to recover from the pandemic.”
The Senior Research Analyst At Knight Frank, Chris Druce, said: “Today’s budget set out the road beyond the pandemic against an improving UK economic picture. It did so without introducing any significant speed bumps for the UK housing sector, which should continue its journey back to normality in the coming months, with the frenzy of the stamp duty holiday fading in the rear-view mirror. After what is set to be a record year for UK property transactions, supply should gradually improve in the coming months as sellers capitalise on the market’s current strength, and incremental interest rate rises help to moderate the high demand that has persisted since the market reopened. We expect house price growth to finish 2021 in the single-digit range, as the property market returns to more seasonal patterns.”
help those working in property development. As you may have noticed, the property market is one of the few business sectors that has thrived over the last 18 months so it was unsurprising to see any major incentives.
