Autumn Budget 2017

The emphasis was clearly on homes, housing and house-building during today’s Budget. 

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the introduction of measures designed to support the property market, including £44 billion of expenditure for housing to increase the number of new homes to be built in coming years, and an immediate cut in Stamp Duty for first time buyers. 

We certainly welcome the news that all first time buyer purchases up to £300,000 will be completely exempt from paying Stamp Duty. This means people buying their first home at £300,000 will save £5,000 on moving costs. 

Whilst it’s a step in the right direction, this initiative doesn’t go nearly far enough and is a missed opportunity to overhaul the Stamp Duty system, not only for first time buyers but right across the market including for home owners planning to downsize. 

Without an increased supply of properties onto the market, particularly of homes in the right price bracket, affordability for first time buyers remains challenging for the foreseeable future. 

Images used above are licensed under the Open Government Licence 3.0.