Government announces ambitious homes scheme

July 8, 2020 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

The government is launching a major project that is aimed at increasing the number of people in England able to own a house and re-energising the economy following the coronavirus pandemic.

This project will see £12 billion invested in the building of affordable homes throughout the country, with the target being to build 180,000 homes over a period of eight years. They are set to be a mix of homes to buy and properties to rent and among them will be 1,500 houses that first-time homebuyers will be able to buy at a discount of 30%. These are being called First Homes and the discount will be a permanent one.

Observers have pointed out similarities between this and the project called Starter Homes that was proposed by David Cameron while he was in office, although that ultimately failed to produce the intended new homes.

This ambitious new scheme will also see changes to planning regulations so that homes can be created out of disused land and buildings in urban locations. Planning applications will no longer be needed by developers to knock down such buildings if the intent is to build homes in place of them, with these rule changes set to come into force in September.

The government is arguing that this will provide much needed housing as well as reviving high street areas by bringing empty buildings back into use.

These plans are encouraging for everyone in the mortgage sector, including advisors with the CeMAP training needed to help first-time buyers get the best mortgage deal.