Osborne should allocate £1.25bn on building 50,000 new homes, says CBI

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has today called on chancellor George Osborne to allocate £1.25bn on building 50,000 new homes in the upcoming budget.

The business lobby group argues that this would boost the economy by £18bn and create 75,000 jobs.

The CBI also called on the government to encourage refurbishment of existing houses though tax cuts or subsidies on renovation and repair work. “This could create up to 80,000 jobs at a cost of £500m and would bring empty homes back into use,” it said in a statement.

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said:

“The Government must stick to its fiscal plan but now is the time to kick-start confidence.

“Our measures will provide another boost for the housing market and will benefit first-time buyers, those trapped in negative equity and those looking to refurbish their homes.

“To boost the construction sector, we are calling for 50,000 new affordable homes to be built, incentives for refurbishing empty homes and the housing guarantee scheme to be extended to all types of housing.

“We must supercharge the NewBuy scheme to allow second-time buyers struggling to get on the next rung of the property ladder.

“With its relatively short lead-in times, house building offers the most bang-for-buck in growth terms – unleashing pent-up demand, while creating jobs and growth.”

The CBI also laid out proposals for the government’s road spending and repair programme, support for exporters and smaller firms struggling to access finance.