Plans to build more homes and tackle the UK’s housing challenges are on track, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said in today’s Spring Statement.
He announced London would benefit from a £1.67 billion cash injection to fund the building of 27,000 affordable homes by the end of 2021 to 2022.
And he announced the Government had made a deal with the West Midlands to deliver 215,000 homes by 2030 to 2031.
Meanwhile, the Housing Growth Partnership, which aims to create more housing in the UK, is being more than doubled to £220 million.
In addition, the Chancellor announced an estimated 60,000 first-time buyers had benefited from the abolition of stamp duty on properties under £300,000.
He also reinforced the Government’s commitment to reducing the annual budget deficit and the interest bill on national debt.
According to Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, this alongside other factors such as inflation could help anyone with a mortgage, at least indirectly.
He said: “The healthier the nation’s finances are, the more cheaply the Government can borrow (as lenders will be more confident of ultimately getting their money back) and the interest rate at which the Government can borrow that forms the base of the calculation that sets the cost of mortgages.
“Anyone with a home loan may therefore get some knock-on benefits from today’s statement – providing the Office for Budget Responsibility is correct in its assessment of inflation and an unexpected economic downturn does not blow the budget deficit reduction forecasts off course.”
