Key workers, such as nurses, police and military personnel, will get priority under a new scheme offering homes for first-time buyers at a 30% discount, the housing secretary will say on Friday.
Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, said the new “First Homes” scheme, first announced during the election campaign, would save eligible buyers an average of approximately £100,000 on a first property.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is launching a consultation on how the scheme will work on Friday, without saying how many will be on offer. It said the 30% discount would apply to “a proportion of new homes” and would be funded out of contributions from developers.
Jenrick said the scheme would be “genuinely life-changing for people all over the country looking to buy their first home”.
“I know that many who are seeking to buy their own home in their local areas have been forced out due to rising prices,” he said. “A proportion of new homes will be made available at a 30% market discount rate – turning the dial on the dream of home ownership.
“The discount will be passed on with the sale of the property to future first-time buyers, helping thousands more people in years to come and ensuring local communities can stick together.”
It is the latest in a series of schemes unveiled by recent Tory governments to help first-time buyers, such as help-to-buy, help-to-buy ISAs, shared ownership and stamp duty relief.
Figures suggest the rate of home ownership among 25- to 34-year-olds finally began to rise slightly to about 41% in 2018-19, but it is still well below the 59% seen in 2002-03.
John Healey, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, said the announcement was “yet another empty promise from the Conservatives, after 10 years of failure on housing”.
“We’ve heard this all before. Conservative ministers previously pledged to build 200,000 cut-price homes for first-time buyers, but the National Audit Office has confirmed they haven’t built a single one, despite wasting almost five years and spending millions of pounds,” he said.
“Unlike Labour, the Tories have no plan to fix the housing crisis.”
The Conservatives promised to build 200,000 starter homes for first-time buyers in 2015, but the National Audit Office in November found that not a single starter home had been built.
Labour has previously announced plans for homes for first-time buyers at up to half the market price of homes, with the discount linked to local incomes.
Source: The Guardian
