The stamp duty holiday on properties priced at under £175,000 has been extended. A series of schemes to inject more funding into the market, and to help complete partially built homes was also put forward.
Commenting on the housing support measures announced in today’s Budget, Fionnuala Earley, chief economist at Nationwide Building Society, said: “The announcement that the £175,000 stamp duty threshold is to remain in place until the end of the year will be welcome for those at the less expensive end of the housing market, but the level of the threshold will still predominantly benefit those in the North. House buyers purchasing property above the £175,000 will still be faced with the full burden of stamp duty. We are therefore disappointed that Nationwide’s suggestion for a more wide-reaching review of the system will not be implemented.
“The availability of mortgage finance is clearly one of the factors which have hampered the level of activity in the housing market. It is hoped the Government’s announcement to further underwrite new lending, by guaranteeing mortgage-backed securities, will boost the availability of mortgages and help add some liquidity to the market. However, the economic and labour market conditions are likely to mean that this alone will make only a limited difference to overall market activity.
“Finally, the £500m housing package announced to complete partially built projects, alongside the £80m extension to the Government’s HomeBuy Direct shared equity scheme should, in theory, increase the availability of housing options. However, previous experience has shown the administrative challenges of managing such initiatives means we should be cautious about expecting these measures to have an immediate impact.”
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