Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Mortgage Strategy. Read the original article for full details.
Housebuilders call for tax cuts and less regulation
Major UK housebuilders have demanded that the new government cut taxes and reduce regulation to support the housing market, insisting that urgent reforms to taxation and planning rules are needed to tackle the housing crisis. They have also urged the government to abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers to stimulate housing demand.
What has been promised so far?
The government has announced a £39bn housing programme, spread over a 19-year period, with an emphasis on 'affordable homes', alongside a streamlined planning process for housebuilding in areas within walking distance of stations and better use of underdeveloped land. Councils are to be given greater control over housing investment, regional mayors more powers over planning, and there will be an increased focus on brownfield land.
Many have argued that, since Labour came to power in 2024, it has been its own worst enemy in trying to meet housing targets that were deemed at the outset to be unrealistic.
Industry reaction: ambition without delivery
Neil Leitch, managing director at Hampshire Trust Bank, said there are "big numbers and plenty of ambition", but that the real test is whether the government is prepared to change the conditions stopping homes being built. He argued that development has been made "progressively more complicated and more expensive" over years, and that a genuine reset requires simplifying planning, reducing unnecessary cost and complexity, properly resourcing local planning authorities and holding them to account for delivery. Leitch noted that developers once could put a red line around a site and seek outline consent, but can now spend substantial sums on a raft of reports simply to submit an application, without any certainty of a decision. He added that housing targets are achievable, but only with fundamental reform of planning and properly resourced local planning authorities.
Felicity Barnett, new-build and affordable housing partnerships manager at MAB, warned that the plans, while positive in principle, are "too little, too late", largely long-term solutions to an immediate problem. She said planning reform could realistically take two to three years before having a meaningful impact on delivery, while many housebuilders face significant challenges around sales rates, viability and confidence, with house prices still out of reach for many.
What it means for the lettings sector
Barnett cautioned that without more immediate demand-side intervention, such as meaningful stamp duty reform or a credible buyer support scheme, there is a real risk that development capacity is lost before the benefits of reform are realised. If the UK loses housebuilders to insolvency or prolonged contraction, delivering 1.5 million homes becomes even more difficult.
For letting agents and inventory clerks, the pace of new housing supply directly shapes future rental stock and market activity, making the outcome of this debate closely relevant to the lettings sector.
Source: Mortgage Strategy