Robin King, Director of Move with Us, the residential property experts, comments on the 2013 Autumn Statement:

New housing

"The problem in the housing market is lack of supply. Although the government has gone part way to addressing this by providing a £1bn fund to unlock housing developments, predominantly in Manchester and Leeds, it is unlikely that this will be enough to counter the problem.

"There needs to be a serious increase in housing stock, particularly in areas surrounding London. During the great depression of the 1930s, the UK managed to deliver 400,000 properties per year. Surely this type of large scale development is needed now.

"There should also be an injection of investment in the supply chain businesses because until they start to invest in expanding production to supply more bricks, blocks and plasterboard, the market will be somewhat restricted."

Infrastructure

"It will be interesting to see how the support for new infrastructure plays out, particularly the development of HS2 servicing the capital. To support upcoming infrastructure with housing, land could be strategically released for development. This could involve some form of compulsory purchase order to enable the economy to benefit from having the workforce in areas that will attract more jobs. Materials such as steel frames should be subsidised to help deliver more recyclable properties that can be built faster to meet demand."

Capital Gains Tax

"While it's a small step in the right direction, the implications involved in making non-residents pay Capital Gains Tax on UK residential property sales may actually slow down the property market in London and could potentially restrict foreign investments, particularly on high end properties."

For further information, please contact:

Sarah Evans Toyne/ Lianne Robinson/ Chiara Barreca, Broadgate Mainland: movewithus@broadgatemainland.com / Tel. 020 7726 6111

About Move with Us:

- Trusted by the UK's leading mortgage lenders, house builders and probate practitioners, we are one of the leading residential property experts providing a broad range of services and tools to help consumers and businesses value, manage and sell their properties. The focus of our business is on providing high quality and innovative services to the property industry and consumers. We aim to do property, properly.
- We are the largest network of independent estate agents in the UK, with over 1,100 members. This ensures that we have access to the best local knowledge across the regions. Through this partner network alone, we manage more than 7,000 moves a year.
- We work with the best independent, accredited estate agents across the country, providing them with property instructions and conveyancing and moving services that add value, providing their customers with a smooth and efficient move.
-  Move with Us has 11 years' plus experience in panel managed conveyancing with more than 100 solicitors nationwide. We manage over 50,000 instructions per annum through our 400 agency partners. Move with Us has ten years' experience assisting UK house builders with their part exchange activity and has rapidly grown to become the largest provider of part exchange management services in the UK.
- We are committed to analysing the housing market, identifying key trends and data to help our clients enjoy success in the current and future property market.  Our residential market review is produced every quarter analysing over 3,800 property sales completed by Move with Us with data derived from around 750,000 property listings supplied by Home.co.uk.
-  Move with Us is home to the UK's largest Rental Index. Working together with an economist at the London School of Economics and Home.co.uk, the Move with Us Rental Index is based on a weekly snapshot of over 150,000 rental properties advertised on major portals across eleven regions in the UK covering England, Wales and Scotland.
-  We provide free, impartial advice and tools to home buyers and sellers in the UK. Our experience spans across all property interests and we specialise in conveyancing, probate, developer, asset management, lender and rental management services.
-  Our significant business growth has been recognised with a number of prestigious awards, including Deloitte's top 1000 performing business in 2012; Grant Thornton top 100 businesses in Cambridge in 2012; the Telegraph Fast Growth List, 2011; The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 award in 2008 and 2009 and the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 award in 2005 and 2006. Founded in 1997, we are based in Cambridgeshire, England, and have approximately 300 staff. 

 For further information, please visit: www.movewithus.co.uk and www.mwuplc.co.uk