Duncan Kreeger urges radical Budget action to revive housing market

Duncan Kreeger, founder and chief executive of TAB, has urged the government to use this week's Autumn Budget to tackle the UK's housing and infrastructure problems head-on. He warned that a cautious, business-as-usual statement will not be enough.

The Budget, due on Wednesday 28 October, will be John Healey's first as Chancellor since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July.

We need a bazooka Budget to fix the big stuff.

A market at a standstill

Kreeger described the property market as the weakest he has seen in two decades, with both buyers and sellers holding back. Beyond housing, he called for major infrastructure decisions, including a third runway at Heathrow, approval for the Rosebank oil field and more drilling in the North Sea.

Options on the table

Kreeger set out several ways the Chancellor could get the market moving. If there is no money available to invest directly in housing, he argued, Healey should push ahead with planning reform. If there is no political appetite to help private developers meet housebuilding targets, he suggested a stamp duty holiday instead. Previous Chancellors Norman Lamont, Alistair Darling and Rishi Sunak all used this tool, in the early 1990s, 2008 and 2020 respectively.

Kreeger argued that a stamp duty break would get people moving and make better use of existing housing stock. Critics of past holidays have warned that they can push up prices and bring forward demand rather than create new demand.

He also called for deregulation of the private rented sector, saying that landlords are leaving the market and that a shrinking supply of rental homes is keeping rents high for would-be first-time buyers. As a minimum, he wants the Mansion Tax announced at the 2025 Budget to be scrapped. He described it as another disincentive for homeowners to move.

Holding the government to its promises

Kreeger pointed to the radical, system-changing platform on which Burnham came to power. He urged the Prime Minister and Chancellor to match that ambition with big fiscal decisions rather than cautious tinkering.

He added that TAB has played its part. The lender has invested in AI to speed up commercial mortgage lending to bridging-style timescales, and it has secured a £200m funding facility to support new loans.