- One of the biggest divides in our country is between those who can afford their own home and those who cannot – a long-term problem which all governments have failed to fix.
- To provide the homes people need, we will review everything, from planning regulations, to stamp duty and housing zones, while emphasising the need to build beautiful homes that people actually want to live in and that are sensitive to local concerns.
- By delivering Brexit, we can get on with giving millions of young people the chance to own their own homes, closing the opportunity gap that spans both geography and generations.
Getting our country back on the road to a brighter future by:
- Building the homes people need by delivering 222,000 new homes last year – the highest number in a decade. In 2017-18, we built 222,190 new homes, taking our total to 1.3 million new homes since 2010.
- Investing £44 billion to deliver on average 300,000 homes per year by mid 2020s - the highest level since the 1970s. We’ve also increased the Affordable Homes Programme by £2 billion and we’re putting more money into local infrastructure to unlock more homes.
- Cutting stamp duty for 95 per cent of first-time buyers – saving people up to £5,000 on the purchase of their home. Over 340,000 families have benefited from out First-Time Buyers’ Relief since it was introduced in 2017, saving over £804 million.
- Backing schemes like Help to Buy which have made home ownership a reality for more than half a million families. More than 1.4 million people have used Help to Buy ISAs and more than 221,405 properties have been bought using the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme.
- Launching new models for shared ownership, making it easier for people to buy more of their own home. People will be able to buy more of their shared ownership home in smaller increments, rather than the 10 per cent currently required. We will also give housing association tenants the right to purchase a shared ownership stake in their home.
- Making it easier for councils to build more homes, giving more people the chance to get onto the housing ladder. We’ve abolished the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap, freeing up councils to deliver an estimated 10,000 new council homes a year. To encourage councils to speed up planning decisions, we will also reform planning fees and create a simpler, more responsive planning system.
Q: Why aren’t you building enough affordable homes?
We know there is more to do to fix the broken housing market, which is why we are committing £9 billion for at least 250,000 affordable homes by 2022.
