The Chancellor’s pledge to build 400,000 homes over the next five years was warmly welcomed by property firm Bilfinger GVA Bristol-based regional senior director Jo Davis.
But she added: “In the South West the ability to deliver these targets will depend on the availability of suitable land. The location of new housing is key and there needs to be a grown up conversation about reviewing the green belt and re-setting this in certain locations.” 
Jo Davis, pictured right, said the Government must focus investment not only where the demand was identified, but in creating a sense of place.
“This investment will need to cover the cumulative impacts of such an approach including strains on schools and health centres. The delivery of this Government objective will be further influenced by planning constraints, spiralling build costs, procurement and potentially local opposition and bureaucracy.
“The national momentum needs to trickle down to a local level where currently reception to new homes ranges from “not in my backyard” through to a warm embrace.
Experience suggests that unlocking this opportunity through well intentional Government spending cannot afford to be bogged down in delivery if we are really to make a real difference to the acute housing shortage.”
Paul Butterworth, partner and head of social housing at Bristol-headquartered national law firm TLT, welcomed the release of tracts of publicly owned land to generate capital and create room for some of the Chancellor’s housing plans.
“With prisons, HMRC offices and Jobcentres for the chop, it will be interesting to see what planning changes come through to support the quick conversion of this land for housing,” said Paul Butterworth, pictured right. 
“Could we see the democratic process around planning for housing partially circumvented to deliver on the Chancellor’s commitment to build by for example including residential development on such land within permitted development rights?”
He said the lines between social housing providers and private housebuilders would blur further following today’s announcements on right-to-buy and shared ownership.
“With the widening of shared ownership to include housebuilders as providers they will need to look at managing rent on the properties they have built – something unlikely to be popular with housebuilders used to seeing 100% returns on sale and not equipped to manage periodic tenancies,” he said. “It will likely lead to the speeding up of housing supply though.
“As regards right-to-buy, five housing associations go live with a pilot from midnight. We can see that this will be opened up to the sector as a whole in the not too distant future. Housing associations will need to organise themselves as a priority to administer the process and sell to avoid the government taking further legislative action to compel them to comply.”
Head of property agents JLL’s Bristol office, Jeremy Richards, pictured below, welcomed the chancellor’s support for 400,000 new affordable homes “at a time when there is a dire need to expand housing construction right across the country”. 
However, he said the Government’s narrow focus on home ownership was a serious concern. “Support for the private rented sector and social housing is vital to protect the financial stability of millions of households, for whom ownership is beyond reach.
“We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement to give local authorities more powers over their budgets. The proposed changes demonstrate a radical shift and will deliver a more sustainable form of local government financing.
“Enabling councils to raise money for infrastructure projects through business rates should give a boost to some of the bigger projects in our region. Allowing local authorities to have more control over business rates could also incentivise them to be more business-focused.”
The Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors also said the push towards affordable home ownership should not come at the expense of affordable homes for rent.
Head of policy Jeremy Blackburn said: “If cities, such as London, are to thrive, we need to ensure that housing can be provided for all of its workforce - home ownership can only go so far and even shared ownership may prove too expensive for some. The Chancellor was short-sighted not to incentivise affordable homes for rent.
“George Osborne is essentially subsidising one sector of the housing market over all others, home buyers already benefit from significant Government funding. Many people struggle to afford to own their own homes and a large majority rely on the available supply of affordable rents. The Chancellor may feel that he is supporting the under-privileged by pushing up buy-to-let Stamp Duty, but we would argue that such an inflationary measure will discourage small landlords and reduce the rental supply – prices will inevitably rise.”
RICS also disputed Mr Osborne’s claim in is statement that ‘We Are the Builders’.
“The construction skills shortage is now at the highest levels seen in the past 20 years,” said Mr Blackburn.
“During the recession an estimated 400,000 people left construction – one of the highest rates of redundancy across any sector, but worse is yet to come, as we are expecting a ‘knowledge cliff’ when those left in the workforce eventually retire. There are serious questions around how we continue to build to meet the 400,000 new houses announced today with the infrastructure that will get Britain moving.”
But reaction to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement announcement that Stamp Duty land tax is to be increased on buy-to-let property purchases provoked a strong reaction.
Imogen Hilton-Brown, partner and head of private client tax services at the Bristol office of accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson, said: “The additional requirement for businesses and landlords to report income quarterly to HMRC from 2020, will also be extremely unwelcome red tape.” 
The Government will use some of the additional tax collected to provide £60m for communities in England such as London and Cornwall where the impact of second homes on the availability of affordable housing is particularly acute.
But Imogen, pictured right, continued: “This will be a further nail in the coffin of the buy-to-let market. The Government is rightly keen to ensure that as many individuals as possible can buy their own homes. However, it is going to be difficult for those who have given up other jobs and invested in this market. Besides, in the short term, rents are likely to go up making it very hard for first time buyers to save.
“These measures are in addition to the finance cost relief restrictions announced in the Summer Budget, which will make highly geared property businesses unviable. Landlords who are not already in the process of reviewing their portfolios will need to do so before long.
“Those with a large portfolio may wish to consider incorporation and some others may look at furnished holiday lettings. Either way, they should discuss their options with their tax adviser.”
The National Landlords Association chief executive Richard Lambert was more blunt, say.ing that if George Osborne wanted to “wipe out buy-to-let, he should just say so”.
He added: “The exemption for corporate investment makes this effectively an attack on the small private landlords who responded to the housing crisis by putting their own money into providing homes by the party that they put their faith in at the election.”
From April 1, 2016 the Chancellor plans to introduce higher rates of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on the purchases of additional residential properties that cost more than £40,000, which will catch most buy-to-let properties. Rates are expected to rise by 3% above current rates, increasing the marginal rate of SDLT on a £250,000 property from 2% to 5%.
This will affect buy-to-let landlords and those with second homes, but is expected to exempt corporates owning more than 15 properties, although the detail is to be consulted on.
In addition, the deadline for any related capital gains tax due on a disposal is to be brought forward by the end of the decade, requiring reporting and payment within 30 days. This is not due to affect properties where private residence relief can be claimed.
Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Bristol-based fund managers Hargreaves Lansdown, said many buy-to-let landlords would soon face a double whammy of higher rates of stamp duty and paying more income tax.
“In the short term this could lead to a buying spree as would-be landlords act ahead of the rise in stamp duty,” he said. The longer term effect will be to make buy to let less attractive as an investment proposition, and will probably mean more people consider pensions and ISAs.
To add insult to injury a further blow for property investment is that Capital Gains Tax on residential property will have to be paid within 30 days of any taxable house sale from April 2019.”
For James Roberts, chief economist at property agents Knight Frank, the issue to watch for commercial property was how much public sector property may now come on to the market.
“The tax offices and courts are less of a concern, as they will mostly be in good locations and probably will need refurbishment – so this is supply for the pipeline, not straight on to the vacancy rate,” he said.
“Some of the buildings may also go to other uses, like homes or hotels. The Jobcentres are more of a concern given the tepid market for local retail, especially as I associate such premises as typically sitting in the wrong part of the high street.”
