Could the housing market be used to recoup lost expenditure from COVID-19?

The question of whether the housing market could be used in order to recoup the lost expenditure from the impact of the pandemic was discussed in the latest instalment of Brightstar's VLOG series.

Could the housing market be used to recoup lost expenditure from COVID-19?

The question of whether the housing market could be used in order to recoup the lost expenditure from the impact of the pandemic was discussed in the latest instalment of Brightstar's VLOG series.

The latest VLOG was hosted by Brightstar's group chief executive Rob Jupp, who was joined by a group of industry experts to discuss the status of the market, how it has fared during the pandemic and predictions for 2021.

Included in the VLOG were Adrian Moloney, group sales director of One Savings Bank and Precise Mortgages; David Whittaker, chief executive of Keystone Property Finance and Steve Cox, chief commercial officer of Fleet Mortgages.

Whittaker said that even though the Chancellor may think the housing market could be used to recoup lost expenditure, the Prime Minister may be looking beyond such an idea.

He added: “Johnson will chair the United Nations climate change summit in Glasgow on 1 November, where he will set out his international credentials as the man who will tidy up the United Kingdom’s environmental act, and housing accounts for 20% of national emissions, so it would be counterintuitive to initiate a tax within housing.

“It is likely he will look to incentive homeowners to get to the EPC rating of C by 2025, over implementing a tax.”

Looking to the possibility of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) being forced upon individual households in order to recoup money, Whittaker said that he can not see the Chancellor implementing this.

Whittaker said: “I think it is likely that the Chancellor will look to Corporation Tax over personal tax as it is a vote winner.”

Adrian Moloney, group sales director of One Savings Bank and Precise Mortgages added that he believes it is likely the government will look to encourage spending over increased taxation.

You can watch the latest Brightstar VLOG here.