David Montague reacts to the Autumn Statement

From the Housing White Paper to the Conservative Conference and now today’s Budget, we have seen ongoing resolve from this Government to tackle the housing crisis.

Huge strides have already been taken, and the Chancellor has today offered a raft of measures which should be another shot in the arm for the housing market. Day by day, the pieces of the housing jigsaw are falling into place, but we are not quite there yet.

New capital funding of £15.3bn to increase delivery to 300,000 homes a year is very welcome, but we need to see and unpick the detail.

The stamp duty cut is great news for homebuyers and great news for housebuilders, but home ownership remains out of reach for many.  The average income of an L&Q social housing resident is £14,000.  Alongside initiatives to help first time buyers we need to see major investment in secure affordable rented housing.

For existing residents, we are particularly pleased with the £1.5bn package for Universal Credit changes. There have quite rightly been serious concerns about these reforms, and the measures announced today will go some way to easing them.

On the whole, this Budget sends further strong signals about the Government’s determination fix Britain’s broken housing market, which is underpinned by a personal commitment from the Prime Minister. L&Q will enable the delivery of 100,000 new homes over the next ten years, and we stand ready to work in partnership with Government to identify the missing pieces of the puzzle and make long-term decisions that will lead to shared success.