Calls for Hunt to boost economy in March update
Senior executives at Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley and Gleeson have called on the Government to cut stamp duty on property purchases in the Spring Budget, set to be announced on 06 March.
Jennie Daly, Chief Executive Officer of Taylor Wimpey, called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to boost the housing market, stating in an interview with The Mail on Sunday: “House moves drive the economy. Mobility is fundamentally important for a healthy economy.
“When that is made harder because there is a tax such as stamp duty or a lack of availability of homes, then you start to constrain the economic options of the individual and the economy. We have to look at the dampening effect that stamp duty has.”
Meanwhile Rob Perrins, Chief Executive of the Berkeley Group, said stamp duty cuts would “help with consumer demand”, and Graham Prothero, Chief Executive of Gleeson, said it would “stimulate confidence and activity.”
The calls follow former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick’s comments earlier this week for a cut to stamp duty ahead of the Spring budget.
Writing in a piece for The Telegraph, Jenrick described stamp duty as a “terrible tax” which “exacerbates the housing crisis.”
Meanwhile, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has announced that the Government would help “tackle SME access to land” through the sale of Homes England parcels targeted at SMEs.
The measures will begin later this year in the South East and Midlands, in a move which Gove said would develop a “pipeline of future small sites.”
Levels of product availability remain strong amidst stable costs
The first Product Availability Statement from the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) in 2024 has reported easing pressure on material availability, driven by the reduction in demand across the UK housing market.
The report also noted that ongoing disruption in the Red Sea has not yet had a notable impact on product availability, although the risk of increases in both cost and lead times for material such as plywood, ironmongery and electrical goods still remains.
Labour costs, availability and skills shortages remain high; the CLC have stated that they are “continuing to have discussions with Government and the Building Safety Regulator”.
However, construction costs could creep up by between 3 and 3.8% this year, according to global consultancy Currie & Brown; with residential construction remaining “subdued until interest rates fall”.
The report, titled Balancing challenge with opportunity, states that UK construction firms must be “agile to manage the demand for workers and materials, and comply with new carbon reduction and building safety legislation”.
Collectively, we need to ask ourselves: “what can we do now to address cost drivers and create greater cost certainty in the future?”
Alan Manuel, Group Chief Executive Officer, Currie & Brown
Housing delivery falls in 2023
A report by Savills has revealed a -9% fall in the delivery of new homes last year than in 2022, with annual completions reaching around 231,000.
The lack of completions – and the fifth consecutive quarter of falling annual delivery – means that five English regions failed to build enough homes to meet housing need when measured against the Standard Method.
London built only 40% of what is needed, followed by the East of England, South West, South East and West Midlands.
The report also found that consents for new homes have fallen to their lowest level for a decade, with 235,000 new homes gaining planning consent in 2023.
Housing View 