At a time when house building is at its lowest level since 1945 the Government’s announcement to help the housing market is little more than a sticking plaster for the house building industry, said the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
Alongside stamp duty reform the Government should look at ways of freeing builders to get on with building the homes that are so badly needed.
Brian Berry, director of external affairs at the Federation of Master Builders, said: "The announcement will not do anything to tackle the underlying problem that there is a shortage of housing in this country, which pushes the prices of existing properties beyond what increasing numbers of people can afford to pay.
"The Government has plans to build three million new homes, which would relieve some of the pressure on the housing market but builders are being prevented from building by a restrictive planning system."
"There are 675,000 empty homes in
"For example, Hyde Housing Association recently paid £120,000 in VAT on a project involving 21 homes. With the reduced rate of five per cent VAT, they would have saved enough to refurbish another three homes. Yet on the issue of VAT the Government refuses to do anything meaningful."
"It is time the Government freed the construction industry from the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy and taxation and allow builders to get on with building the homes that are so badly needed instead of focusing on one off stamp duty 'holiday' gimmicks."
Date: 2nd, September, 2008
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