Shares in housebuilders have gone up this morning on expectations that Osborne is going to announce 400,000 more homes in England.
Four of the top five movers on the FTSE 100 are Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Berkeley - all housebuilders and property developers.
Shares in the UK’s biggest housebuilder, Barrett, were up 3.58 per cent on Wednesday morning, according to Thomson Reuters. Taylor Wimpey, the UK’s second biggest, saw an increase of 3.87 per cent while the biggest gains were by the UK’s third biggest housebuilder, Persimmon, which saw their shares rise by 4.10 per cent.
Osborne has said that than 100,000 families will be helped on to the housing ladder by an expansion of the Government’s shared ownership scheme, in what is being touted as the largest house building programme since the 1970s.
John Healey, the shadow housing minister, has rubbished these plans. He told the Guardian that George Osborne’s first act as chancellor in 2010 was to slash housing investment by 60 per cent, and his plans today could still mean 40 per cent less to build homes compared to Labour’s programme.
“If hot air built homes, then Conservative ministers would have our housing crisis sorted,” Healey said.
Michael Conroy Harris, construction expert at law firm Eversheds, said Osborne needs to create incentives for construction, rather than for shareholders.
"Ultimately, what we really need to see are innovative arrangements where the rewards for speed of construction outweigh the returns from limiting supply to increase demand and returns," Conroy said.
