What the 2023 Budget means for Getting on the Property Ladder
The 2023 Budget was announced by Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, on 15th March and in terms of the overall housing market, there isn’t much to report or announcements that will stimulate significant change. The opportunity for housing reform is still there for the taking, but nothing that will currently cause much fluidity in the market.
Let’s take a look at some of the main talking points when it comes to the property market:
No Stamp Duty Holiday
The stamp duty holiday, that was implemented during the covid-19 pandemic, was a successful policy that helped boost property transactions. However, the policy isn’t being repeated which isn’t unsurprising but would’ve been the type of innovative action that could create more movement in the marketplace.
If there isn’t much fluidity in the market prompted by policy that makes it more appealing/cost-effective to move then the market stays static – leading to lots of people trying to get on the property ladder to no avail and people living in properties unsuited to their needs i.e couples living in large family homes.
This is just one example of an innovative policy that was brought in and deemed a success, there are all sorts of similar policies that could be brought in to solve housing issues in the country, but the chancellor has decided they seem suited to budgets further down the line.
Expansion of Free Childcare
There was good news for people looking to start a family or enrol children they have in nursery. The current expenditure for nursery fees is incredibly high and could have an impact on whether people have children at all, how many they have or if they need to live closer to family support.
It might seem like a policy that only affects families, but how many children people have can have an impact on every area of society and the economy. So, the government’s announcements that there will be an expansion of free childcare will help working parents and positively impact affordability capacity for mortgages. Unmortgageable families, due to childcare expenditure, can become mortgageable, allowing them to get on the housing ladder.
Cautious
The fact that there weren’t any major announcements around housing could be seen as a positive too – because of the knock-on effect of Liz Truss’ ill-fated mini-budget in September 2022, mortgages collapsed etc, so a period of economic calm where housing has been left alone could be good for mortgage lenders and people looking to get on the property ladder. There’s also time for people to save and not lose out if prices fluctuated.
The rest of the economy being in a more stable state helps everyone in the long-run, so even though there weren’t any really beneficial policies and finding put into new innovative solutions to housing market difficulty, the overall picture is a more stable one.
For more information about buying or selling a property, give our experienced team at Home EA a call today and we’ll be happy to help you with all your housing needs and requirements.
