The Chancellor’s surprise announcement to bring in the Help-to-Buy scheme was welcomed by the property and construction industries – with housebuilders in particular enjoying some rare good news.
The property sector in the West picked up on some of the positives – but like most other industries, considered that more could have 
been done to boost confidence and get the economy moving again.
John Mulholland, director at the Bath office of chartered surveyors Jones Lang LaSalle, said: “From an occupier standpoint, it is disappointing to see that economic growth forecasts have been halved as this will impact sentiment in terms of investment in the UK. It is also disappointing that the Budget contained no news on how the Government will allocate resources to regional LEPs, through the Heseltine Review.
“However, we welcome measures to open Britain’s doors to more international business, such as cutting Corporation Tax to 20% from April 2015, making it the lowest business tax of any major economy in the world.
“The Help-to-Buy scheme, with its £130bn of Government-backed mortgages, can only be good news for construction firms and will help stimulate the housing market. Boosting infrastructure by £3bn a year is also welcome – the construction industry tends to have very UK-based supply lines, meaning that benefits do not ‘leak out’ and increase exports.
“We also welcome the Chancellor’s desire to make Britain the most internationally attractive place to innovate. In the West we are home to some of the sectors the Chancellor recognised in his Budget speech as experiencing global success, putting our region in a strong position.”
Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said: “Overall there’s more good than bad for the property industry in this Budget, and the Chancellor appears to have avoided last year’s mistake of announcing half-baked policies, like the 15% stamp duty rate.
“For too long time the size of deposit needed to get on the housing ladder has proved prohibitive and has been the missing piece in a coherent housing strategy, it’s good to see the Government move to remedy this. Time will tell whether this policy will prove effective, but taken with the fivefold expansion in the ‘build-to-rent’ fund the Government is certainly tackling the problem head on."
She also welcomed the confirmation that the Government will consult on allowing the change of use from retail use to residential without the need for planning permission in a bid to breathe life into the nation’s high streets.
Liz Peace added: "Retail-to-residential conversions could be an important step in breathing life into our high streets, and we would very much encourage a flexible approach, particularly in areas with increasingly obsolescent retail stock that is unlikely to be brought back into retail use.”
