Member Article

North East welcomes government homes package

A package of measures to relieve pressure on house buyers has been welcomed by housing and business spokespeople in the North East.

According to the government’s new plans, homebuyers will not have to pay stamp duty on properties costing £175,000 or less for the next 12 months. In addition, first time buyers of new homes could get “free” five year loans of up to 30% of a property’s value.

Richard Bass, managing director of North East housebuilder Keepmoat Homes, said: “If the measures we’ve heard about are introduced it could certainly help to stimulate recovery.

“Getting first time buyers back into the market is crucial as that is what drives the market and the industry. With traditional mortgage lenders approving fewer loans than for thirty years it is important to help people make that first step onto the property ladder. The stamp duty holiday will help those moving up the chain so together these measures could get the market moving. The question is how quickly they can be put in place?”

The North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) said that the moves outlined were a positive step towards arresting the industry slump which is threatening to create a generation of skills shortages.

NECC has raised concerns that were the slowdown left unchecked, the current shortage of available properties would be exacerbated, investment in the housing market would continue to decline and the significant lay-offs caused by the rapid slowing in the level of development would see thousands of skilled workers lost from the industry.

Ross Smith, NECC head of policy, said: “The slowdown in buying activity has been a temporary blip fuelled by the lack of available credit worldwide. This has masked the fact that there is still an extreme shortage of housing and the deceleration in development only served to deepen this problem. High quality businesses in this sector will be needed to address this issue.

“The knock-on effect for skills is also very worrying and NECC would hope the measures announced today will bring a degree of confidence back to the market place.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .