Weekly Summary
Whilst the Budget did not present an entirely positive view of the market, it showed that there are some reasons to be cheerful and that (assuming a continued successful vaccine roll out) we could see confidence return to the economy. There are already some signs of this such as holiday bookings and the oil market but we would want to see a continuation of this trend and its underpinning of returning confidence, before we can assess what it means for the real estate sector.
For construction, it is encouraging to see that the government appears to be standing by previous announcements to stimulate innovation and productivity. Recent policies and guidance such as the super deduction and the Construction Playbook will help enable this, as well as initiatives such as the MMC study. These positives could help the industry improve in the longer term.