Home ownership
The chancellor is to put himself at the heart of Labour's election campaign with a pledge to lift the level of home ownership.
In a foray into traditional Tory territory, Gordon Brown said that more people "must and will have the chance to own their own home".
Brown pledged a "further major extension of
Government Response: Treasury
Gordon Brown, chancellor said: "With home ownership expanding into new areas and new groups, today I see Britain as one of the worlds greatest wealth owning democracies where the widely held chance for not just some but all to own assets marks out a new dimension in citizenship and makes Britain a beacon for the world. Assets for all enabling opportunity for all."
Party Response: Conservative
Caroline Spelman, shadow secretary of state for devolved & local government, said: "After eight years in power and just weeks before a General Election, Labour claim to finally be interested in helping people own their own homes.
"On the day the government begins a rigged revaluation and rebanding exercise, which will hit the council tax bills of millions of hard-working families, Mr Blair is suddenly claiming to want to help get people on to the housing ladder.
"Mr Blair is all talk and no action when it comes to helping people own their own homes.
"Mr Blair has helped kick a whole generation off the housing ladder through council tax hikes, freezing stamp duty thresholds and slashing Right to Buy discounts.
"There is a clear choice at this election, more taxes under Labour or value for money and lower taxes under the Conservatives."
Chris Bennett, external affairs executive at the Construction Products Association, said: "The Association welcomes the chancellor’s commitment to address housing and home ownership in the run up to the election. The 50 per cent increase in social housing provision announced in the 2004 spending review was only a first step towards increasing the supply of housing as a whole: it only represents half of what was recommended by Kate Barker in her report. Likewise, the development of government-owned sites, whilst welcome, is in no way going to solve the massive shortage of housing supply. The Association was disappointed that in the last Budget there were no new increases in funding for social housing provision.
"The other demand-side mechanisms identified by the chancellor are surely welcome to first-time buyers but will ultimately raise housing demand, push up house prices and increase the affordability problems for future house purchasers. Any such measures must be part of a wider housing strategy, including urgently needed reform of the planning system to free up the supply of housing land. It has been the inability of the planning system to provide sufficient development land to meet the growth in household numbers that has been the key factor behind the lack of affordable private sector housing.
"The Association would like to see the chancellor enabling existing homeowners to improve their properties. The latest English House Condition Survey shows that 30% of private homes (5.3 million) are classified as non-decent. The Association believes that extending the five per cent rate of VAT applicable to repair, maintenance and improvement work would stimulate increased maintenance work, reducing the number of properties falling into disrepair and improving housing supply."
Stakeholder Response: Council of Mortgage Lenders
Peter Williams CML’s deputy director general, said: "While the proposed expansion of shared equity through Homebuy is relatively modest, it shows a welcome commitment to expanding home-ownership that the government and lenders can build on in future. Home-ownership will clearly be a key issue in the forthcoming general election, and encouraging the sustainable expansion of owner-occupation is a policy area that each of main political parties will need to address."
Stakeholder Response: British Property Federation
Chris Carter, head of parliamentary affairs, British Property Federation, said: "Whilst the British Property Federation welcomes the government’s announcement to introduce measures to address the undersupply of housing, we urge the government to include in its housing policies measures to promote the expansion of the private rented sector which has been overlooked in the past.
"At a recent breakfast meeting at No 11 Downing Street, Ken Livingstone stated that 35 per cent of
"For investors, the introduction of REITs will help individuals buy a stake in a diverse portfolio of property, offering a safe home for pension investment, and will provide an alternative to direct property ownership through the buy-to-let market. Whilst it is right of government to facilitate access to property ownership, the BPF encourages all political parties to promote home ownership in a responsible way, stressing the obligations that are required of home owners which include servicing mortgage debt, paying for repairs and general property maintenance."
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