The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave an upbeat Budget today, stating that it will create a stronger economy for the British people, “with growth up, jobs up and debt down” and described the Treasury’s plans as a programme for “A new economy, post Covid…for a new age of optimism.”
The key points relating to property are:
- £5 billion to remove unsafe cladding from the highest risk residential buildings
- A Residential Property Developers Tax, funding cladding work, will be for developers with profits over £25m – at a rate of four per cent
- Investment in housing will total £24bn, including £11.5bn towards affordable homes
- £1.8bn for building around 160,000 new homes on brownfield sites in England
- £9m to turn neglected urban spaces into “pocket parks”
- Business rates to be reformed to support high streets, with revaluations every three years from 2023
- A new 50 per cent discount in business rates in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, up to a maximum of £110,000 a year, to last for one year
- Investment relief to encourage businesses to introduce energy-efficient measures
- Capital Gains Tax – the property payment window will increase from 30 days after the completion date to 60 days. When mixed use property is disposed of by UK residents, legislation will also clarify that the 60 day payment window will only apply to the residential element of the property gain
Other areas covered in the budget:
Economic outlook
- Inflation, currently 3.1 per cent, set to rise to 4 per cent over the next year
- Office for Budget Responsibility revises upwards its growth forecast – economy should grow 6 per cent in 2021
- Wages have grown 3.5 per cent in real terms since February 2020
- Borrowing as a percentage of GDP is forecast to fall from 7.9% this year to 3.3% next year
- Borrowing as a percentage of GDP will then fall in the following four years to 1.5%
Transport
- 50 local road upgrades as part of £5bn road improvement programme
- England’s city regions will receive £6.9bn to spend on train, tram, bus and cycle projects
- Scheduled fuel duty increased cancelled for 12th year
- Reduced air passenger duty for domestic flights within the UK
- Financial support for English airports to be extended for a further six months
- A new ultra long haul band in Air Passenger Duty for flights of over 5,500 miles will be introduced from April 2023
Research and business
- Grants worth £1.4bn will be given to internationally mobile companies to invest in UK infrastructure
- This includes £345m aimed at increasing resilience for future pandemics and £800m for the production of electric vehicles in north-west England and the Midlands
- A talent network team will aim to attract high-skilled workers to the UK through “innovation hotspots”, initially based in San Francisco and Boston in the US and Bengaluru in India
To find out more and to discuss what this means for you, please contact your local Winkworth agent. We’re here to help.