There weren’t many shocks in the Comprehensive Spending Review. That’s because the shocks – such as a big cut in the social housing budget – had already been leaked. <br> <br> Once the industry knew that was coming, all that was really left in the CSR was some detail of the New Homes Bonus and the chance that HomeBuy Direct, or a version of it, be relaunched and Kickstart extended. Unfortunately this did not occur, but, as I say, this was no real shock. <br> <br> So, were there any positives? Well, in his statement the chancellor did confirm a commitment to cut regulation and build more homes, something the PM had stressed in PMQs just minutes earlier. And the New Homes Bonus will be in place to try to incentivise local authorities to allow housebuilding. <br> <br> But another positive is that the industry now knows where it stands – it knows it will get little help from the government, it will need to deal with a new planning regime based on localism and it will need to cope with a mortgage market that will be extremely challenging. <br> <br> Given all this, few will deny that these are …