What is Labour promising for the housing market?

Earlier this month, Labour leader Keir Starmer was elected as the next Prime Minister, winning over 400 seats. As a party, Labour has pledged to prioritise housing and deliver ‘the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation’.

The TRA has listed the policies we think are most important to our members and for the housing and construction sectors:

Housebuilding

• Rachel Reeves promised to bring back compulsory housebuilding targets as a wide-ranging plan to reboot the UK economy
• Pledge to deliver 1.5m homes in England over the next parliament focusing on affordable and social housing
• Prioritise building on brownfield sites and poor quality areas in the green belt
• Introduce a mortgage guarantee scheme for first-time buyers, known as the ‘Freedom to Buy’ policy
• Plan to build new towns and urban regeneration projects
• Propose The English Devolution Bill to devolve planning powers to local mayors
• Create a National Wealth Fund and Great British Energy to drive investment into clean energy

Infrastructure, net zero and green energy

• Reach clean energy by 2030 with net zero to follow
• Creating a new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, bringing together existing bodies, to set strategic infrastructure priorities and oversee the design, scope, and delivery of projects.
• Introducing a new Energy Independence Act to establish the framework for Labour’s energy and climate policies. Reaching clean energy by 2030, with net zero to follow

Tax and Finance

• Be strict on tax avoidance and raise £8.5bn a year from increasing taxes
• Cap corporation tax at 25%
• No increase in income tax and national insurance, or VAT
• Minimum wage to reflect the cost of living, with no age limit

Nick Boulton, chief executive of the TRA said: “Our recent state of the industry survey was conducted just before the general election, which revealed that majority of the members were feeling anxious about the next 12 months, with 45% only ‘somewhat positive’.

“39% of respondents believed housebuilding activities will increase, over half of the respondents believed housing building will stay the same, and just six per cent thought housing building activities will decrease.

“It will be very interesting to see what Labour will announce in the first 100 days, and how long changes in policy will take to affect our members”

Full results of the State of the Industry survey is now available via the TRA members’ portal.