KIS Sales and Lettings Managing Director Ajay Jagota has responded to this week’s Budget – with the North East’s leading property expert describing the speech as “positive for property”.
George Osborne used the final budget before the General Election to announce a new Help to Buy ISA designed to help first time buyers save for deposits. The plans will see the Government contribute an extra £50 for every £200 savers put aside.
A 10% deposit on an average North East home currently costs in the region of £15,000, meaning the government will add £3000 to savings of £12,000 for use as a down payment on a property.
The scheme will cost £2.2bn over the next Parliament, suggesting close to 1.5m first buyers will benefit by 2020.
The Chancellor also revealed plans to create 20 new housing zones, which could provide up to 45,000 homes on brownfield sites across the country. Eight further housing zones are also under consideration.
The government also committed to releasing public sector land for an additional 30,000 homes a year.
Ajay Jagota is founder and Chief Executive Officer of the UK’s most innovative sales and lettings business, KIS.
The firm is famous for being the first letting agent in the country to abolish deposits, replacing them with a one-of-a-kind landlord insurance policy offering guaranteed rent, deposit replacement, legal assistance and round the clock third party emergency home repairs.
He said: “This was a noticeably low-key Budget, but there were nonetheless some distinctly positive measures for the housing market.
“The Help to Buy ISA will undoubtedly be useful for helping first time buyers overcome the obstacles to ownership – it’s effectively a tax cut just for them.
“You can’t overstate the importance of the original Help to Buy scheme on kick-starting the housing market, but that impact has been undermined in recent months by falling mortgage availability. The new ISA could get things moving again, Help for Help to Buy if you like.
“If you stimulate demand, however, you have to make sure supply can meet it so it’s important too that George Osborne addressed the fact that we are still not building enough homes.
“His plans to make it easier to construct 45,000 homes on former industrial land and to free up publically-owned land for further development do fall somewhat short of the 300,000 a year the UK needs, but it is nonetheless a vital step in the right direction.”
Author: Ajay Jagota