I’m thinking of buying some land with a view to building on it. Do you have any general advice?

The best piece of advice I can give you is simply this: think very carefully about what you’re considering taking on! Of course, for many people, building their own property is the ultimate dream, and can be uniquely satisfying. It can even be relatively cost-effective. Nevertheless, the potential headaches and pitfalls are almost too numerous to mention. We’ve all seen those TV programmes! Obviously, you can employ an architect and project manager to handle the whole thing on your behalf, but this can be pretty expensive. Alternatively, you may like to make enquiries locally to see if there are any other people who might be interested in forming a self-build group. At least this will mean you're not tackling things all on your own – which is the only other choice. In fact, this is not necessarily a problem, but dealing with planning and building control departments, builders, suppliers, public utilities and all the rest can all too easily turn into a real-life nightmare. But be that as it may…if you really are one of those relatively rare people who thrive on this sort of challenge, then obviously your first step is to track down a suitable piece of land. That in itself is no easy task. After all, we live in a fairly small, crowded island. Obviously, if you’re not particularly fussed where you live, then this will be less of a problem. But that’s not true for most of us. Some estate agents – although by no means all – do deal in land. Alternatively, there are a number of websites these days that specialise in this area. Nevertheless, you need to bear in mind that buying land without planning permission can be a huge gamble – while conversely, land which already has planning permission is obviously going to be a lot more expensive. Believe me, I’m not trying to put you off. After all, it’s only a year or so ago that the Housing Minister himself was singing the praises of self-build, and launching a new initiative to encourage it. But then again, precious little has been heard of that initiative since – and of course, we now have a different Housing Minister…

How much difference will last week’s Budget make to the housing market?

In practice it’s much too soon to tell. Nevertheless, opinion does seem to be pretty sharply divided. Much was made of the new Help to Buy scheme. This comprises two elements. The first is a new shared equity scheme, starting next month, and designed to help people buy new-build homes up to a price ceiling of £600,000. Essentially a revamp of previous schemes, it means that someone with a 5% deposit will be eligible for a Government loan of a further 20% - effectively making it possible to buy a new home with a 75% mortgage. This has of course been welcomed by the house-building fraternity. However, previous schemes have proved fairly ineffectual. The second and more significant element is a new £130-bllion mortgage indemnity scheme, whereby the Government will effectively stand as guarantor for people taking out up to 95% mortgages to buy any property, old or new – again up to a price ceiling of £600,000. The aim is to stimulate the housing market as a whole – particularly, for example, helping those so-called “second-steppers” who want to move up to the next rung on the property ladder, perhaps in order to accommodate a growing family, but who are currently constrained from doing so by lack of savings or even negative equity. A good idea? In theory, yes. However, serious questions are already being raised. For one thing, the scheme isn’t due to start till next January – so what’s going to happen in the meantime? Why would anyone struggle to buy now, if in a year’s time they can do so with a nice comfy taxpayer-backed mortgage? On the other hand, why would lenders run the risk of offering any high loan-to-value mortgages between now and next year, when the guarantee scheme kicks in? Some in the industry therefore see this as potentially sending the market into hibernation for the next 9 months. But in any case, should the Government be involving itself (and all of us) in artificially supporting the market in such a way? I’m not so sure. Could the Chancellor have done anything different? Certainly – he could have announced a root-and-branch reform of the Stamp Duty regime. Now that really would have helped stimulate the market. But of course, it would also have hit the Government right where it hurts most, in the wallet!