Labour Peer Calls For Answers On Starter Homes

A senior Labour peer has called on the government to explain what is happening with Starter Homes. The Housing and Planning Bill introduces the government’s flagship homeownership policy. Under the policy, first-time buyers under 40 years of age can buy a property with a 20% discount. Major lenders are concerned that buyers would be able to sell their Starter Homes at full market value after five years and make a profit and that this would distort the market and incentivise people to overpay, and have warned the government that they will not support the scheme as it stands. Most major lenders want the 20% discount to be held in perpetuity or for the period where the discount applies to a resale to be extended. Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Announces Plan To Build 10,000 New Homes On Public Land

The Government is to directly commission the building of 10,000 new homes on public land as part of a “radical” new plan to build at a faster rate using smaller companies. Rather than waiting for major construction firms to work their way through the government’s long list of housebuilding projects, the scheme will see smaller businesses take on less extensive sites that have already have planning permission. The policy will be backed by an extra £1.2 billion to prepare brownfield sites for the building of 30,000 starter homes - available to first time buyers under 40 for at least a 20 per cent discount - over the next five years. Read more on the Independent website.

Generation Rent: The Housing Ladder Starts To Collapse For the Under-40s

House price rises of 5% a year and a shortage of affordable homes are set to swell the ranks of “generation rent” over the next decade, so that by 2025 more than half of those under 40 will be living in properties owned by private landlords. A report from accountancy firm PwC suggests the number of new homebuyers is set to fall over the next 10 years, as the high cost of raising a deposit locks large segments of society out of the housing market. Levels of homeownership have gone into reverse after years of increases that were stoked by the right-to-buy and the deregulation of the mortgage-lending business. The report suggests this trend will continue. By 2025, a quarter of all households will privately rent, with the biggest increase among those aged between 20 and 39, where “ a clear majority” will be private tenants within 10 years. Read more on the Guardian website.