Budget 2017
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Latest property news
Lettings legislation: is Government listening to the professionals?
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s autumn budget has failed to address the challenges faced by Britain’s ten million renters, says Belvoir CEO Dorian Gonsalves (pictured). “We are disappointed that despite persuasive arguments from many key financial and industry experts, there has been no reversal of the punitive tax changes that were imposed on landlords by George Osborne in 2015,” says Dorian. “We believe that reversing those tax changes would have been an important factor in helping to increase the supply of rental properties in this country and would alleviate some of the pressure on a Private Rental Sector (PRS) that is facing unprecedented stress as tenant demand continues to increase and less good quality housing is available to accommodate this. Dorian says that it isn’t just a lack of a deposit and affordability issues in buying a home that aree driving tenant demand – “In many ways this budget seemed almost to put an unhealthy emphasis on home ownership and failed to recognise that many young people are actively choosing to rent rather than to become first time buyers. “The reasons for renting are numerous, the English Housing Survey of 2015-16 showed that first time buyers are increasingly likely to live in…
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Stamp Duty cut: first-time buyers rejoice, but experts warn of price rises
If Chancellor Philip Hammond thought his Stamp Duty cut for first time buyers announced during yesterday’s Budget would get a unanimous thumbs up, then things definitely aren’t going to plan. Firstly Robert Cote, Chairman of the Office for Budget responsibility, revealed that his organisation thought the tax cut would push up prices by 0.3% and that “the main financial gainers will actually be people who already own properties, rather than first time buyers themselves”. Treasury Chief Secretary has subsequently dismissed the OBR’s prediction and just a “minor increase”. But Mark Hayward, Chief Executive of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) (pictured, left) also sounded a note of caution saying that although overall it was a positive move, it would increase house prices by pushing up demand for first time buyer properties. “We have seen this in areas where Help to Buy is offered, as it attracts a great deal of interest from first time buyers,” he said. Sarah Beeny, TV presenter and founder of online agent Tepilo (pictured, right), also weighed in, saying she thought the measures would not make a huge difference to the market. “Cutting stamp duty for first time buyers is unlikely to do much –…
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Latest property news
Budget 2017 – big news for first time buyers, landlords and tenants
Chancellor Philip Hammond has made several key housing announcements that will impact both the sales and lettings sectors of industry and which he said was part of a £44 billion package. “House prices are increasingly out of reach for many and it takes too long to save for a deposit and rent absorbs too much of people’s ability to save for a deposit,” he said during his speech. The most important of these is that Stamp Duty is to be abolished for first time buyers and, in more expensive areas of the UK such as London, the first £300,000 of a property’s sale value exempted from Stamp Duty, if priced less than £500,000. This, the chancellor said, would remove any Stamp Duty obligations for 80% of first time buyers. Other measures included enabling councils to charge a 100% council tax premium on empty properties – which may force many landlords to either rent out their properties or sell them. “Penalising empty home owners with a 100% council tax premium is unlikely to really be a deterrent for people who are likely to be high net worth,” says Nick Leeming, Chairman of Jackson-Stops. “If they don’t need the rent, this penalty…
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Latest property news
Spring Budget 2017: stunned industry wonders where the property went
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond delivered a Spring Budget 2017 totally devoid of any help for the UK’s struggling housing market. It also failed to lessen or backtrack on recent Stamp Duty hikes for landlords or the lettings fees ban. The only palpable good news for agents includes a mooted extra tax for digital-only businesses to level the playing fields with their high-street competitors – something for agents facing competition from online-only and hybrid ones. Corporation tax Other business benefits within the budget include a reduction of corporation tax from 19% to 17% by 2020 and that businesses with turnovers below the VAT threshold will be given a year’s grace before having to start quarterly digital reporting. Business rates But for the industry’s 20,000 branches, a much-hoped-for reform of the business rates system did not materialise as major hikes loom for many high-street operators. Instead, and in order to see off a potential Tory rebellion, the Chancellor announced a fighting fund of £435m to help soften the blow. This will include a £300m discretionary fund to be shared out by councils to businesses least able to take the rates hit. Hammond also pledged that no business losing its small…
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