The red Budget box was back, but there was a new face behind the dispatch box in the Commons on Wednesday. John Healey delivered his first Budget as Chancellor, with Andy Burnham now in Downing Street amid plenty of speculation about what a “Burnham Budget” might look like.

Healey opened with a nod to the Prime Minister’s recent appearance on Gogglebox, joking that he had expected to be the Government’s most closely watched member this week. There was a more personal moment, too, as he paid tribute to his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, whose record drew laughter from opposition benches. It was a reminder that, even with a change at the top, the Labour Government is keen to project continuity on the economy while setting out its own priorities.

For the property sector, housing featured among Healey’s priority areas at the outset of his speech, alongside energy, national security and public service reform. The announcements that followed offered some clues about where the Government hopes to make progress, particularly on affordability and getting more homes built.

One of the headline measures was the £4.7 billion Your First Home scheme, first announced in September, which is designed to help around 70,000 first-time buyers onto the property ladder through Government-backed equity loans. With a smaller deposit required and an initial five-year interest-free period, it could give a helping hand to buyers who have struggled to save enough to purchase a new-build home.

For housebuilders, the scheme could also provide a boost to demand at a time when affordability remains a significant barrier for prospective buyers. The burning question now is how far it will actually translate into additional sales and, in turn, support the delivery of new homes. Helping people access homeownership is an important part of the picture, but it will need to sit alongside a healthy pipeline of viable developments if the Government wants to make lasting progress on supply.

Beyond the Your First Home scheme, the planned First Time Buyer ISA, due to launch in April 2029, is another attempt to help people save for a deposit, with a 25% Government bonus on savings up to a maximum of £20,000.

There was further support for affordable housing, with an additional £1.5 billion for the Social and Affordable Homes Programme expected to deliver around 10,000 more homes in England. The extension of preferential borrowing rates for councils and a new VAT relief on land sold to registered social housing providers should also help support delivery.

Taken together, the measures underline the Government’s commitment to increasing the supply of social and affordable homes, particularly council housing. The practical challenge will be turning that funding into homes on the ground, with land availability, construction capacity and scheme viability all likely to influence the pace of delivery.

For developers, one of the more notable announcements was Healey’s commitment to avoid major changes to building regulations for the remainder of this Parliament, except where needed to improve safety. The Government also plans to exempt residential brownfield developments on sites of up to 1.5 hectares in England from Biodiversity Net Gain requirements.

Both could offer some welcome certainty for the industry. Smaller brownfield sites can be particularly sensitive to additional costs, so removing some of those requirements could help bring forward schemes that might otherwise struggle to stack up financially. Plans to digitise planning documents and make the Government’s PlanAssist AI tool available to councils could also help modernise the planning process, although the benefits will depend on how effectively these changes work in practice.

The wider question of viability is likely to remain firmly on the industry’s agenda. While greater certainty around regulation is welcome, developers will still be navigating construction costs, planning delays and the cumulative expense of delivering new homes. For landlords, a further increase in tax on rental income adds another consideration, while energy bill support for households offers some relief from the cost of living. How far the Budget helps to ease those pressures will become clearer as the measures take effect.

That question of delivery was also hanging over the political exchanges in the Commons, with Kemi Badenoch challenging Angela Rayner over her recent admission that there was only a “slim chance” of meeting Labour’s target of building 1.5 million homes in England. The exchange highlighted the scrutiny facing the Government as it tries to turn its housing ambitions into reality.

Ultimately, Healey’s first Budget sets out a clear intention to improve access to homeownership and increase the supply of affordable housing, while giving developers greater certainty in some areas. The red box has been unpacked, but the real test will come in the months and years ahead, as the announcements move from the Commons to construction sites.

For the property sector, the focus now turns to whether these measures can help create the conditions for more homes to be delivered, and for more people to find a home they can afford.