Recent budget offers mixed results for the industry

Recent budget offers mixed results for the industry

The chancellor has announced that there will be a new shared equity programme to assist first-time buyers and reform of the planning process, but the focus is on new build rather than the secondary market.

The lack of an announcement on stamp duty land tax incentives for retrofitting homes will be seen as a missed opportunity for many contractors.

However there was some good news for the infrastructure, with about 200m of new funding for railways announced, as a result of efficiency savings, together with a further 100m to deal with winter potholes.

And there were some positives on the green energy front, with 2bn made available through the Green Investment Bank and certainly resulting from the creation of a new carbon floor price.

Housing

George Osborne's Budget for "enduring growth" included 210m of help for first-time buyers, and pledges to encourage investors into the private rental sector.

Planning

A number of changes were announced to planning laws, most of which had been widely trailed in advance. The most surprising was a pledge to guarantee a decision on all planning applications, including appeals, within in one year

Energy

"Two out of 10", is how Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, rated the budget for sustainability. Reform of the definition of zero carbon housing means it will only cover heating, lighting and water, rather than electrical appliances. Housebuilders will have to reach code level 5 rather than about code level 6, saving about 2,000-3,000 per home.

There are quite a few things to be positive about the budget. Assistance for fist time buyers could help 10,000 people get on the housing ladder which is good news. The higher than expected reduction in corporation tax and the change in fuelduty will be positive for the sector, as will an extra 2bn investment in the Green Investement Bank, which is also to be welcomed. The budget seems to have focused alot on construction and the changes seem to be positive.

While there are a number of positive developments, it seems dissappointing that there is nothing to stimulate the work that needs to be done on refurbishing the existing housing stock.

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