Hammond vows to boost UK homebuilding

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will announce a plan to increase housebuilding by almost 40 percent as his Conservative Party seeks to woo younger voters by promising them the same home-ownership opportunities as their parents.

The government hopes to see 300,000 new homes a year -an increase on the 217,000 built in the last fiscal year -- through "billions of pounds" of investment and rules that would make it easier for construction companies to build on sites that already have planning approval, Hammond told the Sunday Times. In a preview of Wednesday's Budget, Hammond vowed to do "whatever it takes" to get homes built, and will launch an investigation into builders who hoard land and local authorities who block developments.

Housing is one of the hottest political issues in the U.K., with the Tories and Labour offering rivals visions of how to make homes more affordable after years of rocketing prices. Prime Minister Theresa May in October pledged 2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) to build an extra 25,000 homes for social rent; critics dismissed the initiative as "chicken feed."

The chancellor is under pressure to use the Budget to help revive the fortunes of a Tory party beset by infighting, divided over Brexit, and still smarting from a disastrous June election in which May lost her parliamentary majority. Trouble is, Hammond has limited room to loosen the purse strings, and almost certainly much less than he'd thought.

Since the Spring Budget, the U.K.'s growth outlook hasn't improved and interest rates rose for the first time in a decade -- bad news for mortgage holders.