Budget: Some good news… and some less good news for fat cats.
So, the long awaited and much anticipated budget is out. And the first thing to note is the increase in Capital Gains Tax… The lower bracket going up by a painful 8% and the higher bracket up by 4%. It is all for a very good cause to fund lots of good things elsewhere… and Chairman Meow will have to give up his luxury brand kitty food and live on cheaper options as his dividends will now be shared with his cousin Gladstone the Treasury cat… Hey ho! Such is life… (besides, he can do with shedding some pounds!)
There are also some bad news for second home owners and non-doms are going to have to cough up if they want property in the UK. Unfortunately stamp duty relief will also end in April…
However, that is a minor inconvenience in comparison to the goodies Rachel Reeves pulled out of the hat.
Here are the relevant bits in summary:
£3bn of additional support for SMEs and the Build to Rent sector, in the form of housing guarantee schemes. (Hooray!)
Housing budget to be £5bn in 2025/26.
Increase the stamp duty land tax surcharge on second homes by two percentage points to 5%. Reeves says this will support over 130,000 additional transactions from people buying their first home or moving home over the next five years.
As announced at the weekend – a £500m ‘top-up’ to the Affordable Homes Programme to build up to 5,000 additional affordable homes.
A consultation on a new long-term social housing rent settlement of CPI+1% for 5 years.
Investment in remediation will rise to over £1bn in 2025-26. This includes new investment to speed up remediation of social housing. The government will set out further steps on remediation later this autumn.
Reduced discounts on the Right to Buy scheme and councils in England enabled keep all the receipts generated by sales.
Additional £1bn from next year to extend the household support fund and discretionary housing payments “to help those facing financial hardship”.
An initial £3.4m to ‘kick-start’ the government’s Warm Homes Plan to decarbonise homes. This includes £1.8bn to support fuel poverty schemes, helping over 225,000 households reduce their energy bills by over £200.
£46m of additional funding to support recruitment and training of 300 graduates and apprentices into local planning authorities, accelerate large sites that are stuck in the system, and boost and upskill local planning authority capacity.
£56m to unlock 2,000 homes at Liverpool Central Docks.
£25m in a joint venture to deliver 3,000 energy-efficient homes across the country, 100% of which are targeted for affordable tenures.
£47m to support the deliver of 28,000 homes stalled due to nutrient neutrality rules.
We are all now keenly awaiting the “Housing Strategy” and the new NPPF early in the new year…
Until next week,
Henry