Economic growth exceeded Office for Budget Responsibility by increasing by 1.7% in 2017, though it is still expected to fall to 1.5% in 2018, 1.3% in 2019 and 2020, 1.4% in 2021 and 1.5% in 2022.
The UK’s economic growth forecasts have been revised up from 1.4% to 1.5% in 2018, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the first ever Spring Statement today.
Economic growth exceeded Office for Budget Responsibility expectations in 2017 with an increase of 1.7%, though it is still expected to fall to 1.5% in 2018 and 1.3% in 2019 and 2020, before rising to 1.4% in 2021 and 1.5% in 2022.
Hammond said: “Forecasts are there to be beaten. As a nation we did it in 2017 and it is our business to do it again.”
These growth forecasts are still well below what was projected in March 2016 before the Brexit vote, when growth was expected to reach 2.1% in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The OBR also forecast inflation to return to 2% over the next years, which should mean real wages will finally rise by the first quarter of next year.
Matt Tooth, chief commercial officer, LendInvest, said: "The absence of a major policy shakeup in the chancellor’s statement today is precisely what the industry needed.
“Rather than wasting time adapting to the step changes we’ve become used to seeing, lenders and developers alike can get on with what they do best, getting more homes built across the UK.
“This is a clear opportunity for industry and government to get the funding mechanisms that are already in place, such as the Home Building Fund and British Business Bank, working harder to increase the supply of much needed capital to SME homebuilders around the country."
