THE growing housing market could act as a 'beacon of hope' for other industries over the next year as lockdown eases and more businesses reopen.

That's the view of Chris Blackwell of TED Mortgages, who praised the extension of the stamp duty holiday on houses under £500,000 which will now last until July and then be lowered to apply to houses under £250,000 until September.

He added that a new mortgage scheme allowing people to buy a house with a deposit of just five per cent of the price will help keep the property sector thriving following an unexpected boom during the middle months of the pandemic.

Though he had some concerns about these extra steps potentially pushing house prices up to unaffordable levels, and the amount corporation tax would be increased.

Mr Blackwell added: "The measures outlined in the Budget will be brilliant for the housing market this year and going into next year.

"Hopefully we have avoided the cliff edge we would have faced if the stamp duty exemption had ended in April, the extension will keep things moving along.

"We need to see more detail from the lenders about the mortgage scheme but it helped create a thriving housing market last time it was introduced after the '08 financial crisis.

"The only thing we need to be careful of is that these types of incentives start to inflate house prices which risks pushing more people out of the market in the long-term if they stay inflated after the incentives end or even create a bubble that will soon burst.

"I feel like the government is trying to raise business propsects in the UK. The housing market could act as a beacon of hope over the next 12 months."

The government kept its promise to avoid raising income tax, VAT and National Insurance but will help recover some of the billions spent on coronavirus support schemes by raising corporation tax to 25 per cent in 2023.

Mr Blackwell added: "Limited company directors have had the least support from the government as smaller companies like ours were lumped into the same pot as CEOs with multi-million pound businesses.

"Our company has done alright during the pandemic but this increase will have a big impact on us. Personally, I think this could have been spread out more fairly, but it's nice to see that the burden isn't placed on low-earners.

"I really hope they follow through on clamping down on fraudulent bounce-back loan claims and furlough applications."