The government confirmed that major steps have already been taken to boost housing supply and reform planning with the introduction into Parliament of the Housing and Planning Bill (see Legal update, Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 introduced into Parliament: property and planning aspects). It also confirmed its commitment to increase the supply of housing by:

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.146, 1.156 and 3.105-108.)

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 1.156.)

The government has announced that it will consult on reforms to the New Homes Bonus (a government incentive that gives local authorities money for the new homes they build). The reforms will be included as part of the consultation on the local government finance settlement and include proposals to sharpen the incentive to reward communities for additional homes and reduce the length of payments from six years to four years.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 1.242.)

The government has reaffirmed its commitment to Starter Homes by announcing that 200,000 such homes will be built over the next five years. A £2.3 million fund will support the delivery of up to 60,000 Starter Homes, in addition to those delivered through reform of the planning system.

Essentially, Starter Homes are new build homes open to purchase by first-time buyers under 40, at 20% off the market price. For background information on Starter Homes, see Legal update, DCLG guidance on Starter Homes exception site planning policy. The Starter Homes initiative was launched in December 2014 and the Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 includes provisions to promote the supply of Starter Homes. For more information, see Legal updates, A 20% discount for first time buyers of new homes and Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 introduced into Parliament: property and planning aspects.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.146 and 2.111 and HM Treasury and DCLG: Help to Buy: new announcements (25 November 2015).)

The government has announced a new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership scheme for 135,000 homes. Shared ownership allows a buyer to acquire a share of a property and pay rent on the remaining share. The shared owner can then buy additional shares over time if they can afford to do so.

The scheme will apply across England and be open to households with an income of less than £80,000 outside London, and £90,000 inside London. It will be possible to buy a share between 25% and 75% of a home and the rent on the rest of the property will not be more than 3% of the amount left. Many of the restrictions on shared ownership, such as who can buy them, who can build them and who they can be sold on to, will be removed.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.146 and 2.111, HM Treasury and DCLG: Help to Buy: new announcements (25 November 2015) and HM Treasury: Chancellor George Osborne's Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 speech (25 November 2015).)

In recognition of the higher housing costs in the capital, the government has announced that it will create a London Help to Buy scheme. The new scheme will be available from early 2016.

Currently, Help to Buy Equity Loans are available for new build homes in England with a purchase price up to £600,000. Under the current scheme, the government provides a 20% equity loan to buyers who have at least a 5% deposit. This means that buyers need a mortgage of up to 75% of the value of their new home.

The new London Help to Buy scheme will offer buyers who have a 5% deposit an equity loan of up to 40%. The loan will be interest-free for five years (Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.146, 1.272 and 2.111). This will mean that buyers will need a mortgage of up to 55% of the value of their new home.

For more information, see HM Treasury and DCLG: Help to Buy: new announcements (25 November 2015).

The Right to Buy will be extended to Housing Association tenants. This extension was a commitment in the Conservative party's 2015 manifesto.

A pilot of the extended Right to Buy scheme will be launched with five Housing Associations. This means that from midnight on 25 November 2015, tenants of these Housing Associations will be able to start the process of buying their own home.

The extension of the Right to Buy scheme initially met with considerable opposition from Housing Associations. The government reached an agreement with Housing Associations and the National Housing Federation on this issue on 7 October 2015. For more information, see Practice note, Right to buy: the process: Extending the right to buy to housing association tenants.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.146, 2.111 and 3.112 and HM Treasury: Chancellor George Osborne's Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 speech (25 November 2015).)

The government has announced that it will provide 10,000 Rent to Buy homes, which will allow a tenant to save for a deposit while they rent. The 2015 Autumn Statement and Spending Review does not provide any further detail, although it has been reported in the press that tenants will be able to live in a Rent to Buy home for five years at a reduced rent while they save for a deposit. They will then have "first right" to buy the home.

The 2015 Autumn Statement and Spending Review also provides for the delivery of at least 8,000 specialist homes for older people or those with disabilities.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.146 and 2.111.)

The government remains committed to improving the transparency of mortgage fees, making it easier for borrowers to choose the best mortgage deals. The government welcomed the industry's announcement that it was committing to several important actions including making the presentation and definition of mortgage fees standard across the industry.

These actions are key recommendations in the report published today by Which? and the Council of Mortgage Lenders which was requested by the government in the 2014 Autumn Statement. For further details, see Legal update, CML and Which final report on mortgage fees and charges transparency review.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 1.148.)

Central government departments have agreed to release an additional £4.5 billion worth of surplus land and property assets which will contribute towards the government's target of £5 billion of receipts by 2020.

The government has previously committed to releasing enough land, by 2020, to build 150,000 homes (see Legal update, March 2015 Budget: key property announcements: Housing). It has now announced that departments have committed to sell land for more than 160,000 homes. In addition:

The government will transform its approach to land and property asset management. It will centralise ownership of its estate and charge departments market-level rents for freehold assets that they currently own. The new model will be operational by March 2017, subject to legislative requirements, and all relevant central government land and property will be transferred to the new central body by the end of this Parliament.

Liz Peace, the former Chief Executive Officer at the British Property Federation, has been appointed as shadow chair to lead the implementation of the new body. The first assets transferred into the body will include freehold offices, warehouses, storage and depot properties (and leaseholds where appropriate).

The Ministry of Defence and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office overseas estate will be subject to the same charging regimes which will be introduced in the same timescale.

The government is seeking up to a further £5 billion of corporate and financial asset sales by March 2020 including allowing Network Rail to sell assets and re-invest the proceeds in rail infrastructure.

As part of its drive to generate £5 billion from asset sales by March 2020, the government has announced that it is re-opening the debate about the future of the Land Registry.

The government is consulting on options to move operations of the Land Registry to the private sector from 2017 (this is a u-turn from the coalition government's stance when that government confirmed that the Land Registry would not be privatised. See Legal update, Government confirms that the Land Registry will not be privatised in the foreseeable future).

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.296-1.303.)

The 2015 Autumn Statement and Spending Review announced various measures related to problems in housing availability.

As part of these measures, the government announced a surcharge of 3% on Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) in respect of purchases of "additional residential properties", such as buy-to-let properties and second homes, with a value above £40,000. This will apply from 1 April 2016.

The additional SDLT will not be payable for caravans, mobile homes or houseboats. The surcharge will also not apply to "corporates or funds making significant investments in residential property", because of the importance of such investment to the government's housing policies. The proposal may require residential buyers to certify if the property they are acquiring will be their primary residence.

The government intends to consult on the detail of the surcharge including whether corporate entities and funds owning more than 15 residential properties should be exempt. The government has stated that it will use some of the additional tax collected to provide £60 million for communities in England where the impact of second homes is particularly acute and also to help towards increasing the affordable housing budget.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 3.70 and Policy costings.)

The government has announced that it will introduce a seeding relief for Property Authorised Investment Funds (PAIFs) and Co-ownership Authorised Contractual Schemes (CoACSs) and that it will also alter the SDLT treatment of CoACSs investing in property so that SDLT does not arise on the transactions in units. The government sought views on these issues in 2014, and has previously indicated its commitment to introducing seeding relief, see Practice note, Property authorised investment funds: tax: Acquisitions of properties by PAIFs.

The government's proposals are that there will be a defined seeding period of 18 months, a three year clawback mechanism and a portfolio test for qualification that requires at least a £100 million value and either 100 residential properties or ten non-residential properties.

These changes will take effect from the date the Finance Bill 2016 receives Royal Assent.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 3.71.)

The government intends to consult on changes to the SDLT filing and payment process in 2016, with the intention of making it easier and quicker to file SDLT returns and pay any tax due. The government proposes to reduce the time for filing and payment from 30 days to 14 days, in the light of the improved process. The proposed changes would come into effect in 2017-18.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 3.72.)

The 15% higher rate of SDLT that applies on "enveloping" high value residential properties is subject to a number of reliefs that apply to certain types of genuine commercial transaction. For more information, see Practice note, SDLT: 15% rate on enveloping high-value residential property: Reliefs from 15% rate.

The government has announced that it will extend these reliefs from 1 April 2016, so that they will also cover the following commercial transactions:

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 3.73.)

The government has announced a number of changes to the regime that applies Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to non-UK residents on a disposal of residential property in the UK. The provisions making these changes will be included in the Finance Bill 2016. For more information on the regime, see Practice note, Capital gains tax: disposals of UK residential property by non-residents.

The proposed reforms include amending the CGT computations required on such disposals by "removing with retrospective effect from 6 April 2015 a double charge that occurs in some circumstances and correcting an omission with effect from 25 November 2015". There is no further detail on these changes.

The government also intends to give HMRC powers to prescribe circumstances in which a CGT return will not be required from non-UK residents and to add CGT to the list of taxes that the government may collect on a provisional basis. No date was given for when these changes will come into force.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 3.75.)

The government has announced that from April 2019, a payment on account of any CGT due on the disposal of residential property must be made within 30 days of completion. Currently, CGT due on residential property is paid between 10 and 22 months after completion. This is out of step with the position for other taxpayers, such as those paying income tax through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system. This delay can also cause problems where a taxpayer forgets to pay, or no longer has sufficient funds to cover the tax charge.

This new measure will not affect gains on properties which qualify for Private Residence Relief (and are therefore not subject to CGT). The government will publish draft legislation for consultation in 2016.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.290 and 3.76.)

Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) provides 50% business rates relief for eligible businesses, based on the rateable value of their premises.

For some years, SBRR has been doubled for eligible businesses occupying premises with a rateable value of £6,000 or less, meaning they have 100% relief. Businesses occupying properties with a rateable value of between £6,001 and £12,000 receive tapered relief based on that value, with the relief diminishing as the rateable value increases.

This temporary increase in the level of SBRR was due to end on 31 March 2016, but it has once again been extended and will now apply until 31 March 2017.

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraph 3.74.)

Following the devolution agreement with Greater Manchester, the government has confirmed that further devolution agreements have been reached with civic leaders in the Sheffield City Region, the North East, Tees Valley, Liverpool City Region and the West Midlands. These agreements give local areas control over major budgets and responsibilities and create directly elected mayors.

The government will:

The government will:

The government aims to support growth and job creation by expanding the Enterprise Zone (EZ) programme in England. It has announced 18 new EZs (of which 15 will be in smaller towns and rural areas) and the extension of eight current EZs. This measure will be effective from April 2016.

This means that in total there will be 44 EZs in England.

The new EZs will be in the following locations:

The EZs at the following places will be extended: Cornwall Aerohub, Bath and Somer Valley, Birmingham EZ Curzon Street, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft EZ, Humber EZ, Infinity Park, North Kent Innovation Zone and Tees Valley EZ.

The policy offers three incentives for businesses locating to EZs, and local authorities:

(Autumn Statement and Spending Review 2015, paragraphs 1.251, 2.115 and 3.13 and DCLG: The New Enterprise Zones (25 November 2015).)