What does Alastair Darling’s Budget mean for the UK Housing Market?
Helping to address some of the key challenges facing the UK housing market, was one of the Chancellor’s priorities in his Budget speech. Alistair Darling acknowledged the need to stimulate the housing market to promote wider economic recovery. Hamptons International shares its thoughts on how the Budget announcement will impact the housing market moving forward…
“Confidence is already returning to the housing market, especially in London. Any sign that the Government is supporting the housing market can only help further. The Budget took account of the fact the housing market could do with a boost and attempted to tackle the root cause of the problem, which is lack of sensible mortgage financing,” comments Phil Tennant, regional director, Hamptons International.
On the scheme to guarantee mortgage-backed securities to boost lending, Tennant noted:
“It was the withdrawal of mass-market mortgages which stopped the market so dramatically at the end of 2007. Whilst mortgage lenders’ requirements seem to be easing slightly of late, mortgages are still hard to come by for the majority of buyers. Currently, an Arrangement in Principal with a lender seems to mean very little, as many lenders seem to create new requirements as they go along. Any effective scheme to help return the mortgage market to a sensible state must therefore be welcomed.”
On stamp duty holiday for homes under £175,000 to be extended to end of year, Tennant stated:
“For the market to get back on an even keel after a correction, fresh equity is always needed at the bottom to allow people to trade up. Again, any effective scheme to make things easier for first-timers buyers should be seen as a positive step. Without readily available mortgage finance, however, the scheme cannot really be very effective, as there don’t tend to be many cash buyers at this level.”
For more information, please contact:
Jane Jorgensen, Associate Director
020 7589 9775
jorgensenj@hamptons-int.com