Housing in the Budget – what it means to you.

A quick summary – what the budget might mean to you from the housing point of view.

TAX – £12,500 personal tax allowance and £50,000 higher rate threshold by April 2019

GENERAL STUFF –   £291 million from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock 18,000 new homes in East London through improvements to the Docklands Light Railway. British Business Bank will deliver a new scheme providing guarantees to support up to £1 billion of lending to SME housebuilders. Thus providing £653 million to 2021-22 for strategic partnerships with nine housing associations to deliver over 13,000 homes. A new five-year strategic business plan for Homes England, to be published on 30 October

2018 RECAP –   5 year, £44bn programme launched last year;  121,000 already benefit.  FTBs at 11 year high.  Extended relief to shared ownership up to 500,000 and retrospective buyers since last budget will also benefit.  500m to housing infrastructure to benefit 650,000 homes

NEW DISCOUNTED HOMES – in up to 500 neighbourhoods.. The government wants to see parishes and communities provide many more homes for local people to buy, at prices they can afford.

HELP TO BUY EQUITY LOAN –  By March 2021, the government expects to have invested around £22 billion in the scheme, supporting up to 360,000 households into home ownership. To ensure future support is targeted at those who need most help  the Budget announces that from April 2021, a new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme will run for 2 years before closing in March 2023. The new scheme will be available for first-time buyers only, and for houses with a market value up to new regional property price caps. These caps are set at 1.5 times the current forecast regional average first-time buyer price, up to a maximum of £600,000 in London. The government does not intend to introduce a further Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme after March 2023.

Interesting to recap – not a lot here for the average home buyer!