Disappointing budget for property sector

Ian Bythell, residential director at Petty’s, said: “There was little in Philip Hammond’s budget for the property sector to believe the government really does prioritise the 'housing crisis'.”

He also announced the government would provide £8.5m to develop ways that up to 500 parishes can allocate or permission land for homes sold at a discount to people with a direct connection to the area, which could prove useful for more rural locations.

Whilst this is welcome news, industry experts have said it doesn’t go far enough and were especially disappointed with the announcements relating to the lettings sector with new legislation further restricting lettings relief for landlords, bad news for both landlords and tenants. Ian said: “There are one or two positives to pull from this budget but that was all. The chancellor could have done a lot more. I think he missed an opportunity by not going far enough on Stamp Duty. As the areas only Relocation Network Agents we see a good number of second steppers or last-time buyers looking to downsize who could have been given a boost by this too.”