Mortgage Scheme Launched For 5% Deposits

High Street lenders are now starting to offer mortgages to borrowers offering a deposit of just 5% under a new government guarantee scheme. The policy, announced in the Budget, is designed to help more first-time buyers secure a home. But the launch comes as average house prices in the UK continue to rise to record levels. Analysts also suggest that cheaper deals are available for those able to stretch to a 10% deposit. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56777436

Budget Removed Uncertainty For House Buyers

The UK's largest mortgage lender has said the extension of the stamp duty holiday has "removed uncertainty" for those completing house purchases. The Halifax said the housing market had been at a crossroads before the Budget. Stamp duty relief in England, Northern Ireland, and the equivalent in Wales, have all been extended. The Halifax said UK house prices in February were 5.2% higher than a year earlier, averaging £251,697. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56291299

Sunak Prioritised Landlord Tax Break Over Fixing Housing Crisis

Labour has accused Rishi Sunak of announcing a tax break for second homeowners and landlords with his stamp duty cut while failing to announce measures to “tackle runaway house prices and build truly affordable housing”. Following the Budget, the opposition party has highlighted that the continuation of a reduced rate of stamp duty land tax to September will hand half a billion pounds to landlords and holiday lets. 34% of homes bought in 2019/20 were second homes, buy-to-let properties or residential properties bought by companies. Documents from the Treasury show that the reduced rate of stamp duty will cost £1.6bn. Read more on the Labour List website.

https://labourlist.org/2021/03/sunak-prioritised-landlord-tax-break-over-fixing-housing-crisis-says-labour/

Sunak To Extend Stamp Duty Holiday To June

 Another twist in the tale of the stamp duty holiday extension, as reports are emerging that the Chancellor is mulling over the possibility that he will allow the scheme to run until June. According to The Times, the extension will be announced in next week's budget, with the Chancellor confirming as part of his plans that the deadline will be moved from the 31st March to the end of June. The chancellor has been urged to push back the deadline amid a heated campaign by property professionals and economists who argue that many people have been left scrambling to complete their transactions before the end date. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/sunak-now-considering-stamp-duty-holiday-extension-to-june.html

Help to Buy Scheme – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what policy decisions were set out in Budget 2020 in relation to Help to Buy.

Christopher Pincher: [Holding answer 19 March 2020]: In February, the Government confirmed details of the new Help to Buy Scheme from April 2021, which included a policy decision to define a first-time buyer as someone who has never previously owned a property. This definition is consistent with other government policies such as Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption. Budget 2020 set out the revised forecast expenditure arising from this decision.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-03-16/29825

Affordable Housing: Construction – Parliamentary Written Answer

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether homes funded under the new affordable homes programme from 2021-22 will be required to include a right to shared ownership.

Christopher Pincher: Right to Shared Ownership will give many social housing tenants the opportunity to purchase a stake in their home and take their first step into home ownership. At Budget we announced £12.2 billion of investment to build affordable homes, which is the biggest cash investment in affordable housing for a decade. As a condition of this funding, homes built with it must have the Right to Shared Ownership attached.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-03-12/28566

No Tenure Breakdown For Affordable Homes Programme

Budget 2020 pitched a new multi-year settlement of £12bn to the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) – but the MHCLG does not break down programme funding by tenure. Confirmation came in the response from Housing Minister Christopher Pincher to a written Commons question. Pincher confirmed MHCLG did not break down funding by tenure for AHP which aimed to deliver “at least” 12,500 social rent homes to defined high-cost areas. Budget 2020 pitched a new multi-year settlement of £12bn to the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). This sum represents a rise of £3bn increase on the current five-year AHP worth £9bn and is due to end in 2021. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/no-tenure-breakdown-for-affordable-homes-programme/

Budget 2020: Housing Measures At A Glance

·         A new Affordable Homes Programme of £12bn

·         A £1bn Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from buildings

·         £650m of funding to help rough sleepers into permanent accommodation

·         £400m for ambitious regional mayors to build homes on brownfield sites

·         Promise to announce measures to change the planning system tomorrow

·         A 1% cut on the Public Works Loan Board interest rate, used by local authorities to fund housebuilding

·         A temporary removal of the minimum income floor (which calculates assumed earnings for self-employed people) in Universal Credit as part of the government’s response to coronavirus

·         £200m for communities in areas that repeatedly flood

Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/budget-2020-the-housing-bits-of-sunaks-speech-in-full-65395?utm_source=Ocean%20Media%20Group&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11390639_IH-BUDGET-SPECIAL-11-3-2020-GR&dm_i=1HH2,6S52N,8CKJV9,R4PA8,1

Budget 2020: Housing Measures At A Glance

·         A new Affordable Homes Programme of £12bn

·         A £1bn Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from buildings

·         £650m of funding to help rough sleepers into permanent accommodation

·         £400m for ambitious regional mayors to build homes on brownfield sites

·         Promise to announce measures to change the planning system tomorrow

·         A 1% cut on the Public Works Loan Board interest rate, used by local authorities to fund housebuilding

·         A temporary removal of the minimum income floor (which calculates assumed earnings for self-employed people) in Universal Credit as part of the government’s response to coronavirus

·         £200m for communities in areas that repeatedly flood

Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/budget-2020-the-housing-bits-of-sunaks-speech-in-full-65395?utm_source=Ocean%20Media%20Group&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11390639_IH-BUDGET-SPECIAL-11-3-2020-GR&dm_i=1HH2,6S52N,8CKJV9,R4PA8,1

PWLB Rates For Social Housing Cut

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has cut interest rates by one percentage point for councils seeking to take out public loans for social housing. The move returns rates for social housing to the level they were at in October before the Treasury announced a surprise one percentage point hike to the cost of borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB). Councils will now be able to borrow from the PWLB at 0.8% over gilts for social housing schemes, with authorities in England, Scotland and Wales eligible for the discount. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/pwlb-rates-for-social-housing-cut-to-pre-hike-levels-65392?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Budget Fails Tenants Say Landlords

Tenants will continue to face a rental supply crisis as the Chancellor’s Budget has today failed to boost the supply of privately rented homes. Following years of tax hikes on the sector, organisations including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Hamptons International, Zoopla and ARLA Propertymark have warned that private sector rents are set to rise as the demand for such homes outstrips supply. The Residential Landlords Association and the National Landlords Association warn that this only makes it harder for tenants to save for a home of their own. Read more on the NLA website

https://landlords.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/budget-fails-tenants-say-landlords

Budget 2020: LGA Responds To Housing Announcements

Responding to the Budget Cllr David Renard, the LGA’s housing spokesman, said: “Investment in the Affordable Homes Programme is a positive step, but it is vital the programme is re-focussed towards building homes for social rent. We are also pleased the Government acted to cut the interest rates for investment in social housing. It is good the Government has announced further funding to get people sleeping rough off the streets and into safe and warm accommodation. With over two thirds of councils spending more than they planned to on tackling homelessness, it is vital the Government follows this with long-term funding for homeless prevention in the Spending Review.” Read more on the LGA website.

https://www.local.gov.uk/budget-2020-lga-responds-housing-announcements

£1bn Fund To Strip Cladding From Tall Buildings

A £1bn fund to help strip combustible cladding from homes in privately owned tower blocks is “a huge step forward”, but likely to be too little and would still leave thousands of people in financial and safety limbo, leaseholders said. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, accepted demands to bail out hundreds of thousands of leaseholders living in buildings constructed with combustible panels that are different from those used on Grenfell Tower. His budget included the announcement of new money to remove the materials from private and social tower blocks over 18 metres tall. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/11/budget-2020-1bn-fund-to-strip-cladding-from-tall-buildings

Housing Market May See Spike In Overseas Buyers Ahead Of Stamp Duty Surcharge

A stamp duty surcharge for non-UK residents is set to come into force next year – and could spark a scramble among overseas investors to buy properties before it kicks in. From April 1 2021, the Government will introduce a 2% stamp duty surcharge for non-UK residents purchasing homes in England and Northern Ireland. Budget documents said the move will help to control house price inflation and to support UK residents to get on to and move up the housing ladder. The money raised from the surcharge will be used to help tackle rough sleeping. Read more on the Belfast Telegraph website.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/housing-market-may-see-spike-in-overseas-buyers-ahead-of-stamp-duty-surcharge-39036394.html

New Stamp Duty Charge Could Free Up Competition For UK Landlords

The property industry will be hoping that housing is a top priority in the upcoming Budget. One housing measure that is expected to get the green light is the move to introduce a 3% stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of homes by non-UK tax residents. The new surcharge is set to sit on top of the existing stamp duty amount for the property and the current 3% levy on the purchase of second homes or buy-to-let properties. This means many overseas investors will be hit with a sizeable tax bill when they buy property in England. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/hero/new-stamp-duty-charge-could-free-up-competition-for-uk-landlords.html

Mortgage Lending Fell In 2019

2019 saw the first fall in annual gross mortgage lending since 2010, the UK Finance Household Finance Review (Q4 2019) has revealed. There was a decline of new loans for both residential and buy-to-let purchase products, while first-time volumes fell by 0.6%. Miles Robinson, head of mortgages at online mortgage broker Trussle, said: “The fall in mortgage lending highlights what we’ve known for some time; that there is a real lack of suitable properties at the more affordable end of the market. When you also consider the closure of the government’s Help To Buy ISA – there will be even more pressure on the new Chancellor Rishi Sunak to deliver for first-time buyers in next week’s Budget.” Read more on Property Wire.

https://www.propertywire.com/news/mortgage-lending-fell-in-2019

Housing Crisis ‘Stops Nearly Two Million From Having Children’

Housing stress is potentially stopping nearly two million people from having children, a report from the Affordable Housing Commission (AHC) has revealed. The report is based on a poll showing 13% of UK adults under the age of 45 in a couple have delayed or not had children due to their housing situation – potentially affecting 1.8m people nationally. Generation Rent says the poll finding should further pressure the government to make provision in the budget for investment in new council homes. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/housing-crisis-stops-nearly-2m-from-having-children/

Landlords Urge The Chancellor To Take Action On Decline Of Rental Housing Supply

The Chancellor must use his first Budget to take immediate action to reverse the decline in the supply of rented housing, say landlords. With landlords selling more properties than they are buying and others switching to short-term holiday lets for tax reasons unless action is taken tenants are going to find it increasingly hard to find the home they want. The three per cent stamp duty levy on extra housing introduced in 2016, among other measures, has slowed investment in newly rented property, with landlord confidence now extremely low. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

https://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/landlords-urge-the-chancellor-to-take-action-on-decline-of-rental-housing-supply.html

Homeless Families Putting Budgets Under Strain, Say Councils

Growing numbers of homeless families and the increasing cost of putting them up in bed and breakfast hotels caused two-thirds of English local authorities to break their homelessness budgets last year, say councils. Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that councils collectively spent £663m on homelessness services in 2018-19 – a 28% overspend amounting to a £140m excess budget. It warned that local homelessness services were being pushed to “breaking point” by rising demand caused by a shortage of social housing and the gap between rents and housing benefit. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/29/homeless-families-putting-budgets-under-strain-say-councils

Spending Round: MHCLG Budget Rises 2.7%, But Little For Housing

The MHCLG will see its budget rise marginally to £1.64bn next year, following Spending Round announcements that made little mention of housing. The budget increase for day-to-day spending in 2020/21, up from £1.57bn in 2019-20, represents a 2.7 per cent ‘real terms’ increase, based on government calculations. It includes an additional £54m to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, and £24m in additional funding for the Building Safety Programme to support the new building safety regime. The budget also promised “continued support to increase home ownership”, including through the Help to Buy equity loan. The current Help to Buy scheme is due to end in 2021. Read more on the Social Housing website.

https://www.socialhousing.co.uk/news/spending-round-mhclg-budget-rises-27-but-little-for-housing-63055?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60