The Chancellor has unveiled a £44 billion budget housing boost.
Phillip Hammond has said yesterday that £204 million of funding will be invested into “innovation and skills” within the construction sector – including training a workforce to construct the new housing.
However, some people are concerned the plan did not go far enough, Justin Neal, who is partner and Head of Real Estate of Gordon Dadds, has concerns over the upcoming Brexit and the lack of a skilled workforce – “It is essential that the issue of supply is dealt with and steps have been announced to deal with this. In particular, I note the £34m to develop construction skills. This is a welcome gesture, but until we have a sufficient home-grown skills base, the issue of supply will remain, and this will potentially be compounded by the Brexit effect,” he says.
Included in the budget were plans to inject £2.7 billion into the housing infrastructure fund, which would raise it to £5 billion, with promises to also build five new garden towns by 2050 – meaning an extra one million homes.
If this all a bit too much to take in, relax with a pint – at least the cost of those have been frozen (for the time being!)
