The Chancellor has pledged to “do much more” to boost home ownership in the country, by doubling the government’s housing budget to more than £2 billion per year.
Announcing his Spending Review and annual Autumn Statement today (25 November), George Osborne revealed plans to build 400,000 affordable new homes by the end of the decade with properties “not just affordable to rent, but affordable to buy”.
He told the House of Commons that 135,000 of the homes would be available through a brand new Help to Buy: Shared Ownership scheme announced today, which would aim to remove restrictions on current Shared Ownership initiatives including “who can buy them, who can build them and who they can be sold on to”.
The Chancellor also confirmed that an extension of the Right to Buy scheme would, from midnight tonight, make way for tenants of five housing associations to be able to buy their own home.
Meanwhile, from April 2016 those purchasing additional properties such as buy-to-lets and second homes will face a 3% rise in Stamp Duty rates, although further consultation is set to take place to ensure corporate property development isn’t affected.
Unveiling the new measures, Mr Osborne said: “In this Spending Review, we choose to build.
“Above all, we choose to build the homes that people can buy, for there is a growing crisis of home ownership in our country. Fifteen years ago, around 60% of people under 35 owned their own home and next year it’s set to be just half of that.
“We made a start on tackling this in the last Parliament, and with schemes like our Help to Buy the number of first time buyers rose by nearly 60%. But we haven’t done nearly enough yet so it’s time to do much more.”
Related posts:
Property experts welcome Help to Buy: ISA
Agents react to first year of Stamp Duty reforms
Autumn Statement: Chancellor confirms letting fees ban
Autumn Statement is ‘a chance to help housing sector’
Liverpool housebuilders welcome Help to Buy funding boost
Letting agency fees ban ‘could push up rents’ for tenants
