Dean Finch

He claimed that the taxes would hurt the government’s ambitious target of building 1.5m homes by 2029, telling The Times that there was a “disconnect” between the government’s imposition of costs on the sector and its manifesto commitment.

“There are billions of extra costs coming down the line just when the government wants us to crank up building new homes,” he said. “The [cladding] levy will also apply to the smaller guys. I don’t know how smaller housebuilders will be able to afford it.”

In England, the cladding levy, a tax on new developments, will work out at £1,750 to £2,000 per home, he said. If 300,000 homes are built per year, this equates to at least £525m a year.

The levy, which was introduced in light of the 2017 Grenfell fire, has previously been criticised for targeting the whole sector rather than those who provided unsafe cladding.

It also comes on top of a pledge of nearly 40 of the country’s top housebuilders to remediate their own buildings, built over the last 30 years – which has already racked up a cost of £2 billion.

In addition to cladding costs, Mr Finch said that extra costs from the budget, as well the residential property developer tax – a 4% corporation tax surcharge on profits above £25m – will cumulatively add £30m to £40m in annual costs.

While he “warmly welcomed” the government’s reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, he warned the cost burden would make its presence felt. “If you keep adding billions of costs, there is less money to buy land and build homes.”

Persimmon is currently on track to deliver around 10,500 homes for the full year following a stabilisation of the UK housing market in 2024.

After a strong year, the housebuilder’s share dropped in the weeks surrounding the Autumn budget despite Reeves’ announcement of a range of measures to support Labour’s target, including skills training, reforms to the planning system and additional assistance for affordable housing.