RICS’ budget wishlist

The Government should use the budget tomorrow to announce measures to encourage baby boomers with too many rooms in their homes to downsize and free up space for families, according to RICS. It said that Britain was experiencing the lowest level of housebuilding in peacetime since the 1920s and that owner occupancy was at a 27-year low. RICS added that 8m homeowners over the age of 60 could be interested in downsizing, bringing potentially 3.5m homes back on to the market, of which about 2.3m would be family homes of three or more bedrooms. "Many older homeowners are over-spaced, while their children face a lifetime of renting cramped accommodation in an increasingly unaffordable market," it said. It also warned that legacy of home ownership was at risk, with younger generations being unable to afford to follow in their parents' footsteps, and called on the Chancellor to use the budget to commit to a review of inheritance tax and its role in the housing market in the next parliament. It suggests that the Government should consider waiving inheritance tax and stamp duty on a property if the seller is above a certain age and specifically looking to downsize, and that measures should be introduced to remove the myriad obstacles to the building of new homes on brownfield sites.