Finance Bill

Lord Shipley Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I will speak about stamp duty and the temporary change in policy being introduced. It is estimated that there could be 100,000 extra house sales in the next nine months. I accept the importance of that in reviving the housing market. When people move homes, they generate sales of fittings and materials for those new homes, which is an additional benefit. But I hope the scheme will not be extended in its current form after 31 March next year and that the opportunity is taken to learn from the experience of the next few months. There are two reasons for saying this.

First, it will not solve the housing crisis, which is primarily about a lack of supply, particularly of low-cost housing for those on lower incomes. There is a real risk that this change will just lead to more competitive bidding and sale prices higher than they would have been. I ask the Minister specifically why the Government have included second homes in this policy change. It seems a very strange subsidy, albeit a temporary one, even though the 3% additional homes levy still applies. Why have the Government included second homes, when buying a second home reduces opportunities for local first-time buyers?

This new policy will not help those who cannot afford to buy a house in the first place, nor will it help many first-time buyers get a mortgage, since banks and building societies want a 15% deposit. There is an additional danger that buy-to-let landlords will outbid first-time buyers and push up prices. There are 9 million people on furlough, who could find it hard to move anyway. What assessment have the Government made of the fact that many households will not be able to take advantage of the reduction in stamp duty anyway? The supply of low-cost homes for sale and rent to low-income earners really matters, and I see nothing in this proposal that will address that.

Might the Government look again at two related issues? The first is the question of who benefits from increasing land values, which can result from planning permission, and how that financial gain could be used differently for the support of more low-cost housing. Secondly, will they look again at why 70% of new housing supply lies with 10 developers, and what might be done to broaden the number of builders and thereby increase supply?