The Chancellor delivered Budget 2026 on 28 October, setting out a range of measures for land, planning and development.
At the centre of the housing announcements is Your First Home, a £4.7bn equity loan scheme to help around 70,000 first-time buyers in England, with deposits from 2.5%. The Budget also provides an additional £1.5bn for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme, exempts residential brownfield sites of up to 1.5 hectares from Biodiversity Net Gain, and commits to no major changes to building regulations for the rest of this Parliament beyond building safety. The Crichel Down Rules will be reformed by spring 2027 to speed up the release of surplus public land, and mayors will gain a new £1.5bn borrowing facility from April 2028.
Alongside the Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility now forecasts 190,000 fewer new homes than it did in March, citing weak demand, construction costs and the cumulative cost of regulation.
Our briefing sets out every relevant measure in full, along with the OBR’s housing forecast and the key dates ahead.
