Many in the housing sector were disappointed over the lack of major new initiatives in Chancellor George Osborne's Budget amid the ongoing housing crisis in the United Kingdom.
According to The Guardian, the Chancellor did mention a couple of things for the industry, including the previously announced £115 million fund for the homelessness and rough sleeping, and homeownership aid for social tenants. Many housing experts and politicians were expecting to hear specific new plans to tackle the country's shortage of supply, such as how the U.K. can meet its target of 200,000 new news annually. However, nothing big was mentioned.
Labour MP and London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan told The Guardian that he was "shocked that the budget contains nothing to fix London's housing crisis."
Generation Rent UK also expressed its disappointment via Twitter, saying, "That's it. No big housing announcement this time; a cynic might welcome that, given his record. The housing crisis rumbles on."
Meanwhile, Osborne also mentioned the upcoming implementation of the stamp duty change, announcing that all landlords would have to pay the 3 percent increase in taxes. This, according to Zoopla spokesperson, Lawrence Hall, would hit the rental sector, making it even harder for people to save up for a down payment they need to own a home.
"By hitting the rental sector with higher taxes and lower reliefs, the Chancellor is making renting more expensive and getting on the ladder even harder for Generation Rent," Hall told The Telegraph.
The Telegraph noted that with the omission of any major plans to tackle housing supply issues that would pull down house inflation to a manageable level, there's no way but up for the house prices.
Russell Quirk, founder and chief executive of online estate agent eMoov, told the publication, "The only result is going to be a continuously inflating market, fuelled by out-of-pocket second home owners and buy-to-let landlords, alongside a dire lack of housing supply."
"A dangerous fire for Mr Osborne to be fuelling, to say the least. When you add to this his decision not to dilute the help-to-buy scheme, in turn further fuelling demand and pushing up prices for those it is intended to 'help', it's not looking as bright as Mr Osborne may have us believe."
