The fallout from the Budget: ISA's, new-builds and shared ownership

So last Wednesday saw George Osborne announce his sixth and possibly last Budget to Parliament. With the General Election looming in the not so distant future, the Chancellor gave us a fleeting preview in to just what could be, if the Tories are voted back in come 7 May.

But what exactly would this particular electoral outcome mean for the property sector

Well, as we all know, saving for a deposit is one of the most difficult challenges first-time buyers here in the UK face. If voted back in, the Tories have pledged to provide bonuses for anyone who has saved into a new Help to Buy ISA: for every £200 saved, the Government will provide £50, going up to £3000 on a £12,000 deposit. The idea is to give first-time buyers the confidence to save for a new home - as well as help to maintain demands for new build homes. So far, so good.

Staying on the theme of demand for new build homes and construction, to address the impending housing bubble, the Budget also revealed that the Tories have promised to provide 275,000 new homes between April 2015 and March 2020, creating 20 Housing Zones outside London, rather than the 10 proposed last June. It is thought that this could provide a further 45,000 new homes - by regenerating brownfield sites in areas such as South Bristol, Hinkley, Poole, Weston-Super-Mare, Ashchurch, Gloucester and Foxhill.

In fact, with regards to the so-called housing bubble' - and we need look no further than London for this one, I think - according to Mr Osborne, the Tories plan to provide £1 million to the London Land Commission to establish a database of surplus public sector and brownfield land - as well as a further £7 million to the Greater London Authority to support the development of the Croydon Growth Zone.

With news this week that London's middle class are being forced further and further out of Central London by inflated house prices, this is bound to be a winner for many of the electorate.

Furthermore - and now moving beyond London - according to the Chancellor's Budget, a Tory Government would also implement a national Housing Finance Institute to tackle the housing shortage throughout the UK. This would be aimed specifically at addressing the skills and knowledge gap' in delivering local authority housing by providing support in areas such as land assembly and building investment vehicles.

One announcement, however, I am sure would have been music to many property professionals' ears was that the shared ownership market will also be reviewed. Indeed, according to Mr Osborne, should the Tories win the election, the Homes and Communities Agency will amend guidance and model leases with a view to making the sales process for shared ownership more efficient.

Finally, the Chancellor also announced that recommendations made by the Competition and Markets Authority will be met to improve the market for residential property management services. An encouraging step forward - although one that does not go nearly further enough to address the issues leasehold properties pose during the buying/selling process that we are all only too familiar with. Those that have been following the Conveyancing Association's Leasehold Solutions Campaign will know this is an issue very close to our hearts.

So there we have it, a classic pre-election Budget - making promises, however, is the easy part, whether the Tories will actually get a chance to try and deliver these will remain to be seen.

*Eddie Goldsmith is Chairman of the Conveyancing Association and Senior Partner at Goldsmith Williams

**For more information on the main parties' housing policies, see this week's Letter from the Publisher