Budget? What budget?

lemon re house building

If huge numbers are being built than why is there an accepted crises?

Why is it almost impossible for our grandchildren to get on the housing ladder?

This sort of argument gets us nowhere though Sarahellenwhitney. When I was young we had an outside loo shared with several other families and that was the very late 60's. My first home had no central heating, no proper kitchen etc. would we really want (or expect) anyone to go back to those times? We need good quality affordable homes.

Why is it almost impossible for our grandchildren to get on the housing ladder?

Because the houses/flats are far too bloomin' expensive and "we" have caused it by greed. Plus they can't save for deposits because the damned rents are so high and (round here anyway) the wages are too low.

It’s all to do with where they are being built.

Low cost housing only exists in some areas, and not in the South East at all, but there are well paid jobs in this area of the UK so ‘grandchildren’ here would be able to get on the housing ladder eventually, especially when two salaries are taken into account.

There is a crisis because the population has grown here too quickly, many doing low paid work yet still requiring housing, usually in the rented sector.

Add to that the break up of marriages / partnerships, and it’s easy to see why we don’t have enough housing.

gilly exactly - you are in business so will be very familiar with supply and demand?

Widgets in short supply - price goes up
Start making loads more widgets - price drops
Artificially keep widgets in short supply - fixing the market, price stays high
Law enforces greater supply of widgets - price goes down.

Plenty in the South Wales Valleys too Gilly, goes with areas of high unemployment

I wish there was a reply button under posts ,Winterwhite most of the things announced dont affect Scotland,Stamp Duty...we have devolved power,same with University loans...and of course no tuition fees to be capped.Our public sector cap has been lifted by the Scottish Government and our housebulding is on target .The NHS spend in England results in a small consequential rise in our NHS budget ,we'll get 8 million towards NHS Scotland ,which is already outperforming the rest of the UK ...however with the loss of EU staff we will have/do have a problem to face .There are still burseries for nurses and a new recuitment drive for specialised nurses...I believe there were 70 new midwives last month .The help for oil and gas industry is long overdue ..we were told at the referendum that this industry was "safer on the broad shoulders of the UK" Sadly when it hit troubled waters last year the UK government appeared to be in hiding and it was left to Holyrood to find money to help...not easy on our fixed budget.However the fact that WM PAYS some oil companies to extract the oil and gas where the Norwegians ar earning vast sums of money from theirs shows a stunning level of mismanagement .If you want to learn about Scottish politics there are loads of forums on FB .Enjoy...but dont put your blood pressure at risk..lol

It doesn’t matter why there is a crises, although it is far more complicated than that lemon but it does matter to first recognise the crises! The second act on it to ensure a housing programme is embarked upon.

The government recognised that there is a crises. Makes lots of noise about building 300k a year. Then takes action and puts up house prices

House building IS being embarked upon!
My area is flooded with it.

It’s not all that complicated actually whitewave there are just too many people competing for housing.
Who would have thought that the population of this country would have expanded the way it has, EU immigration here has vastly pushed up the numbers requiring housing in the last few years.
Too many people requiring them, but you obviously have very little new building where you are ( not enough jobs, or just not where people want to be, all sorts of reasons)
Thousands upon thousands of houses being built in my village and general area.

The stamp duty relief for first time buyers is a favourable headline for the Tories in the Budget.
It might be helpful to some people.
If you are buying a £150,000 house (starter home price in my area) you save £500.
If you are buying a £300,000 house you save £5000.
So better off first time buyers benefit much more than the less well off.
BUT the OBR calculate that this will make house prices rise next year.
This might cancel out the savings made by stamp duty cuts.
So the main beneficiaries of this will be existing homeowners. The Tories are just protecting their own as usual.

What sort of price do these houses start at lemon? What sort of size are they?

I didn't listen, I get too overwhelmed by the half truths, manipulation and wool being pulled over our eyes, but I did take notice of the payrise for nurses which is about time, They have had no cost of living increase for 8 years so are in fact getting poorer not even status quo, My daughter is a nurse and at the moment self financing a degree course so that she can become a clinical nurse specialist. She is a single parent and struggles a lot,

There is a lot of house building going on within a 20 mile radius of here too - hundreds of homes, some under what was the stamp duty threshold too although our particular area is above that threshold.

Why can't governments look at this problem from a different direction?

By building more and more houses in and around London (for example) you actually make the problem far worse. Why not force businesses out of London (or prevent them from expanding within certain areas) and encourage them into areas such as the North East (other deprived areas are available).

There are plans for three new towns - where will they be located, does anyone know?
There is already a new town being built near Plymouth.

The budget is twice yearly... Spring and Autumn .... both budgets are spoken of well in advance...I had been waiting since August for this Autumn one....so lack lustre...very disapointed...but life goes on.

sarahellenwhitney Thu 23-Nov-17 12:08:11

Absolutely no idea why you enlightened me and questioned me re your personal opinion but thank you (I hope/think/not at all sure?)

All I can say is - times change. If you had lived somewhere between 1500 and 1850 you would have been part of the agrarian economy, working from dawn to dusk and tied to a farm and living in a farm workers cottage (more like hovel to us). That does not happen in this country currently.

I'm afraid I have little sympathy for the idea that the young should live as the old did. This is partly because I didn't and no one expected me to, and partly because it is a simple fact that it just doesn't happen.

Still not sure what you wanted from me I'm afraid, but I will now continue to report and consider the budget.

gillybob Thu 23-Nov-17 12:11:59

Gilly I would say that being left behind in the economic growth stakes has been more important - house prices would have followed if anyone in the current governing party since and including Thatcher had thought to grow the economy of the whole country.

They didn't, they haven't and they aren't.

Can a brexiter please enlighten me how the Hades, now that it is becoming clear the devastation being caused to our economy any of it is worth it?

Whitewave, all that will happen is when they realise the result of their small majority - it is not "the country" as people keep saying but just a minority of those in the country - they will blame anyone and everyone else.

WII the budget was never twice yearly. We had got to the point where we had a Spring Budget and an Autumn Statement. It has now been decided, so there is enough time between budget and the year end/beginning in April, to reverse these.

We will have the Budget - still only once a year - in the Autumn. This was the first of these. So far the chancellor has said we will have "a single major fiscal event each year" so hopefully there will be no spring statement but who knows.

Agree with you GGM2 successive governments seem to have forgotten "we" exist.

House prices are relative to wages/economy. Rubbish wages up here as there are not enough well paid jobs. This in turn equals low house prices (and values for those of us who will need to sell in order to retire) , that most young people still can't afford.

gillybob
Well of course no one wants to see the return of outside loos and gaslight but sense is required here and Rome wasn't built in a day and this reduction of stamp duty for first time buyers is a step forward not backward.
For many, sacrifices have to be made getting on the property ladder and in my area it is made extremely hard due to the greed of those coming from major cities buying up properties for second homes /holiday lets leaving them empty in many cases for three four months at a time.Not only from cities are these buyers but locals jumping on the band waggon.The government need to come down hard on local authorities who sit back and do sweet*****.
We cannot tell people what to do with their money, which is an on going argument in my local, but there must be ways to free up these properties to young locals looking to purchase for the first time and I mean locals or those who have to move with their job. An incentive to the vendor, I have my own ideas on this, but will ensure he does not lose out on his sale and will put a stop to any idea of upping his price which many doom and gloomers' believe to be inevitable with the reduction of stamp duty.

I'm not as kind Gilly. I think they just don't understand or care and as long as the North doesn't make too many waves they won't. I think they may just be beginning to hear the rise in the murmuring.

I have a lot of sympathy with people who live in those desirable areas where the very rich buy up the properties as second homes sarahellenwhitney Pushing the prices up sky high and leaving the properties empty for months on end.

There is a very picturesque village in Northumberland popular with tourists. When a new estate was built a few years ago there were queues of people waiting to pay deposits. Most from way out of the area. The poor locals couldn't afford them. The place is like a ghost town in the winter as there are only a handful of actual owner occupiers.