which way to vote?

Still not much electioneering around what the election is likely to do to the property market, or how 'green' the main parties are in their plans.

The manifesto watchers seem to think these are the salient points

Labour -
> 5% stampduty charge on homes over £1mill
> homebuy schemes for affordable housing
> zero carbon new homes from 2016
> retain HIPs and make Home Condition report a mandatory inclusion (it is voluntary at present).

LibDem -
> affordable homes in rural communities
> incentives to renovate existing empty housing stock
> safe start mortgages to protect against negative equity
> devolved planning to local authorities
> focus on improving energy efficiency in homes

Conservatives -
> no stamp duty up to £250k
> Scrap HIPs, although they are looking at alternatives to continue to make homebuying more straightforward
> incentives for self-build, particularly in rural areas
> end 'garden grabbing' by developers in urban areas
> equity incentives for good council tenants


So three different flavours and to an extent three differing sets of priorities. Of key concern for property professionals like ourselves (Surrey Energy Consultants) is the uncertainty surrounding the Tory plans to scrap HIPs, most industry professionals believe that HIPs now do actually work and the infrastructure is in place to support their production and management. We would hope that even a Tory government would think about the benefits and look to tweak / tune what is there rather than complete scrappage of an evolving scheme.

At a macro level, more important the aims to devolve planning is certainly a high risk strategy. Many areas of the country face an acute housing shortage and the social and economic implications of not building or freeing up housing stock would be worrying. Having some governance in place to ensure management and agreement on supply will be critical, even where much of the planning is devolved.

So whichever colour the new parliament is - red, blue, yellow or rainbow, tough decisions around budgets and inevitable spending cuts means the housing market will remain a tough challenge for consumers and property professionals alike. We all need to expect this and weather the storm.