Autumn Statement is “a double edged sword”.

November 25, 2015

Following the chancellor’s big announcement on housing which saw him confirm that he’s doubling the housing budget to £2bn a year to deliver 400,000 affordable new homes by 2020, Andrew Ellinas, Director of Sandfords, a Central and North West London agent, says; “the planned increase in starter homes for first time buyers will energise the whole of the housing market.”

He continues: “Increasing affordable housing, particularly in the capital with the launch of a London Help to Buy scheme, will be “good news” for the industry. The positivity of helping more first time buyers to finally get onto the property ladder in London will ricochet into all sectors of the market, and all regions.

However, George Osborne has produced a double edged sword with this Autumn Statement because of his new rates of stamp duty coming into play in April 2016. Introducing a 3% stamp duty penalty on buy-to-let properties and second homes will be very detrimental to the whole of the market and will in fact deter investment, and over time deplete available rental stock. Although we await full details on this, for London in particular, considering it’s one of the world’s investment ‘safe havens’, this is an unfair taxation for Mr Osborne to put in place and will come as another blow for buy-to-let landlords.”

Blog direct from: theinhouseway.co.uk

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

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