Any Budget meddling must boost supply, not demand

摘要

If Philip Hammond chooses to stimulate housing in his 22 November Budget, he should study the record of his predecessors and stimulate supply rather than demand. Chancellors down the years - Conservatives in particular, it seems - have not been able to keep their mitts off the housing market, Their efforts have merely distorted house prices in one direction or another and rarely stimulate supply. If one rule needs nailing on any Chancellor's desk it is: any fiscal incentive focused on consumer finance of housing merely ends up in house prices.