While this was laudable, according to some, others believed it fell short of the mark. 

The chancellor announced that £1.4bn of funding would be made available for affordable housing, relaxing previous restrictions on grant funding by allowing housing providers to deliver a mix of homes for affordable rent as well as low-cost ownership – a change to the government’s previous policy of only encouraging home ownership. This extra funding is in addition to the £4.7bn that had already been announced.

The lack of housing supply remains a very pressing issue as recent government figures revealed that the number of affordable homes being built in England has dropped to its lowest level in 24 years. Ashley Osborne, head of UK residential at Colliers International, noted that while the extra funding to deliver an additional 40,000 new homes was to be welcomed, “there are some real practical challenges to actually deliver this physical housing”.

However, others, such as Ian Graham, a partner at law firm Trowers & Hamlins, believe that the lifting of restrictions on the types of homes that could receive funding was to be welcomed, and would mean more homes are built for those “for whom home ownership is not a realistic possibility”.

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The chancellor’s new housing infrastructure fund, which would invest £2.3bn to deliver 100,000 new homes in “areas of high demand”, had a similarly mixed reception. Anthony Aitken, head of planning at Colliers, noted that while this funding “creates a good sound bite … with 300,000 houses required each year in the UK, and just over half that number being delivered, the scale of the housing crisis – predominantly [a] lack of housing supply – becomes all too apparent”. 

Aitken went on to note that the fund would not start until 2021 and represents four months of the annual requirement. “The biggest incentive that could help provide new homes in high-demand areas – especially the south east of England – would be for government to require, indeed insist upon, local authorities to provide timeous local plans, where they have to meet their housing demand in full, having undertaken full green-belt reviews. Not a snappy sound bite, but less obfuscation by local authorities in bringing forward local plans and addressing the actual issue head on!”

Other measures announced to help tackle the critical housing shortage included £1.7bn over the next four years to help speed up building on public sector land through private developers. Melanie Leech, CEO of the British Property Federation, noted that this would “upscale the modular construction sector, meaning a more efficient industry and the faster delivery of homes”.

Meanwhile, the chancellor did little to appease the concerns of landlords, with no change to the 3% stamp duty surcharge introduced in April 2016. A ban on letting agents charging fees to tenants was also seen by some as an attack on “beleaguered landlords”, as agents are likely to shift their fees to them instead. David Cox, managing director at the Association of Residential Letting Agents, described the measure as “draconian” and noted that these fees are likely to be passed on to tenants, hurting “the very people the government intends on helping the most”.

Communities secretary Sajid Javid has recently confirmed that a long-awaited housing white paper will follow early this year. As ever, the devil will be in the detail.

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