In the Chancellors Autumn statement last month one of his headline policies involved the removal of stamp duty for first time buyers purchasing properties up to £300,000. This is a drastic increase from the previous level of £125,000. The government claims this will be beneficial to 95% of first time buyers, saving them thousands of pounds when getting onto the housing ladder.
Also included in the Statement were a number of other policies affecting the housing market including;
- A pledge of £44bn to go towards building 300,000 new homes per year through to mid-2020s.
- Councils given power to levy a 100% council tax increase on empty properties.
- £125m pledged over the course of the next two years to aid 140,000 people with rental costs.
- £28m to go towards new housing schemes in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands, aiming to halve homelessness after 5 years, and eliminate it after 10.
- Private home building to see £8bn of financial support.
- £2.7bn fund for housing infrastructure.
- £1.1bn to go towards urban regeneration on strategic sites, and £400m to go towards housing estates.
- Review into the ways in which obtaining planning permission could be sped up.
(Reference: https://www.moneyexpert.com/budget/autumn-budget-2017-key-points-changes/)
