The Chancellor aspires to deliver no fewer than 1.5m homes over this parliament to revive the economy – and solve the chronic housing shortage.
Here’s what you need to know about the plans, the obstacles – but also the opportunities that could allow you to make the most of a future construction boom.THE PLANSThe reforms risk opening a chasm of dissent. Local councils will be compelled once more to meet compulsory housing targets, able only to determine ‘how, not if’ homes are built.
THE OBSTACLESOver the Reeves revolution hangs the spectre of the failed housing policies of past governments. As one expert said: ‘Back in 1997, Tony Blair’s deputy prime minister John Prescott promised seven millennium communities as part of his planning revolution. They didn’t happen, did they?’ But, as Richard Donnell, research director at property portal Zoopla, explains, housing associations are cash-strapped.
THE OPPORTUNITIESBeing wary of the planning revolution’s impact on your location is not a reason to shun the shares that should benefit.