Chancellor hopes for 200,000 new homes as a result of budget measures
George Osborne has announced the government will be providing support to small housebuilding firms, with £150m used for new build housing.
The construction of a new garden city at Ebbsfleet was also confirmed.
The chancellor said the measures taken in the budget would support over 200,000 new homes, with 120,000 built as a result of the Help to Buy scheme.
The chancellor announced an extension of the controversial Help to Buy scheme to 2020. The government originally planned to the end the program in 2016.
Alistair Bingle, managing director at Bishop's Move, commented:
I applaud the decision to extend the Help to Buy scheme until 2020. Whilst we must be cautious of a boom and bust property cycle, it’s crucial to get Britain moving once more and positive headlines like this have been long overdue. However, to compliment the scheme, a stamp duty holiday for first time buyers would give the market, and indeed the economy, that extra kick forwards.
Springtide Capital had recommended that the chancellor target the scheme according to different requirements of individual postcodes, so as to address the growing disparity between London and the rest of the country.
The Adam Smith Institute recommended the scheme be wound down ahead of schedule to reduce house prices in London and the South East.
The chancellor recently warned that the UK is will continue to face a housing shortage for at least the next ten years. Countrywide has estimated that England will face a shortfall of 1m homes by 2021.
Read our full summary of the budget here.