What does it all mean for house buyers? We’ve picked out some of what we think are the key points below.
Help to Buy
The Help to Buy scheme, under which you may be able to buy a home with as little as a five per cent deposit, is to be extended to 2023.
It had been due to end in 2021 so we reckon this is good news for people trying to ‘get on to the property ladder’. Our own market research has shown how important the scheme is to first-time buyers, with many telling us they simply would not have been able to afford a home without it.
The rules are being changed, though, so that the scheme will be available only to first-time buyers. At present, almost anyone can get a Help to Buy loan.
There are also changes to the rules about how big the loan can be. At present, there is one single limit for the whole of the UK outside London. In future, there will be different limits in different regions.
But don’t worry if you have already started your Help to Buy application – or even if you haven’t. The new rules don’t start to apply until 2021 so you have plenty of time.
Stamp Duty
It has always been a bit odd that most first-time buyers are exempt from Stamp Duty – unless they are buying a shared ownership property. Now the government has put that right and the same benefit will be available to shared-ownership buyers.
What’s more, the change is being back-dated to last year’s Budget (22 November 2017). So if you have bought a shared ownership property since then, talk to your solicitor to see whether you could be due a repayment of Stamp Duty. However, it would probably be best to wait a few days until we’ve all had time to figure out exactly how the details of the Chancellor’s announcements will work.
Funding for housebuilding
The Chancellor also announced that the government is putting another £500 million into the Housing Infrastructure Fund - a pot of money that local councils can apply to for help with building homes. Mr Hammond says this will “unlock a further 650,000 homes”.
And there are to be government guarantees for loans made from the British Business Bank to small builders to help them finance the building of homes.
Neither of these things is likely to have an immediate impact on house buyers – but, if they work as planned, they should mean more new houses being built over the next couple of years. And the market law of ‘supply and demand’ should mean that, with more homes being built, any rise in house prices over the next few years will be (slightly) less than it would otherwise be.
Homes on the High Street
The rules under which shops and offices can be converted into homes – usually apartments – are being simplified to make this easier. And money will be available to local councils to help with these conversions. Again, this should mean more new homes.
