<p><span>The chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a £1.1 billion allocation from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to “build nearly <span>70,000 new homes in high demand areas across the country”.</span></span><span> </span><span></span></p> <p><span>In his Budget today, the chancellor revealed other housing measures, including an extension of the Affordable Homes Programme with a new, multi-year settlement of £12 billion.</span></p> <p><span>There will also be £400 million made available for mayoral combined authorities and local areas to build on brownfield land.</span></p> <p><span>The government also announced a stamp duty surcharge of </span><span>2% for overseas buyers from 2021.</span></p> <p><span>And Sunak announced £1 billion to remove unsafe cladding from residential buildings above 18 metres.</span></p> <p><span>The chancellor added that the housing secretary Robert Jenrick would shortly announce planning reforms to bring the planning system “into the 21</span>^st<span> century”. </span></p>