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06 March 2024

In response to the Spring Budget announcement, here’s some commentary from Adam Oldfield at Phoebus Software, the mortgage servicing provider for financial institutions:

Adam Oldfield, chief revenue officer at Phoebus Software, said: “That was a most underwhelming Budget announcement for the housing market, particularly considering it is election year.

“At least this time round stamp duty got a mention, albeit a fairly token effort when you consider the echoing calls for bona fide stamp duty reform. Had the Chancellor decided to cut stamp duty for all buyers, from first-timers to next-timers to down-sizers, that could have been a real boost across the residential housing market.

“Perhaps, though, it will be enough that the OBR expects inflation to come down to below two per cent in the coming months. We should then be out of recession, and hopefully that might trigger the Bank of England to drop interest rates, swap rates will settle, and the housing market will pick up again.”