Government Spending Review

George Osborne has today declared that he plans to “end the crisis of home ownership in our country.” Great news. To do this, The Chancellor is to double the housing budget to £2 billion a year and build 400,000 new homes across the country. “We are the builders!” yelled Mr Osborne above the parliamentary hubbub. He was talking about infrastructure when he said that, but it also applies to his housebuilding plans. A new building bonanza will be funded by public money, with developers channeled into building starter homes for hard working families (Mr Cameron’s favourite sector). The Chancellor is also mindful of the importance of ‘young hardworking families’ as he has now decided to rein back his proposed cuts to tax credits, softening the blow by delaying implementation of those deeply unpopular cuts. He is, however, capping Housing Benefit for new tenancies. The funding for housebuilding will be split into several parts; £2.3 billion directly to developers (ever thought you were in the wrong business?) to ‘encourage’ them to build 200,000 starter homes. That’s £11,500 per house. These homes are designated as being for ‘those aged under 40.’ Tough luck if you are just 41 and not yet been…