News
UK plans £3 billion house building fund to boost market post Brexit
Monday 5th September 2016
The UK government plans to announce a £3 billion house building fund to provide developers with access to cheap loans or financial guarantees in order to boost the property market following the vote to leave the EU.
Finance minister Philip Hammond, is due to set out the government's fiscal response to the referendum vote on 23rd June in an autumn budget statement, although no date has been given as yet.
The fund is expected to combine several existing schemes, including the £525 million builders fund and the £1 billion large sites infrastructure programme, but is also set to include new money to encourage developers to build new homes following claims developers have been deliberately restricting the supply of new houses to keep prices high.
It has been reported that funds would be targeted at small and medium-sized developers, offering cheap loans or financial guarantees. They would also be designed to reduce red tape which has been problematic in previous schemes.
The creation of this fund follows the analysis from Capital Economics that the government will miss its target to build one million new homes by 266,000.
Theresa May, has made building more affordable homes a priority during her first term as prime minister. Mrs May highlighted the struggles encountered by young people when trying to get on the housing ladder during her first speech outside Downing Street.
The UK property market has been showing a decline in recent months since the Brexit vote, however reports are beginning to surface that demonstrate the market is beginning to stabilise and growth is still possible.