Home ownership

Stakeholder Response: British Property Federation

Chris Carter, head of parliamentary affairs, 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% of London’s workforce is foreign born and requires rented accommodation since owner-occupation and social housing are not suitable for workers on short-term contracts.

"Independent research has shown that the private rented sector promotes job mobility, and with the introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), institutional investment and professional management will make it a much more attractive option for housing tenure.

"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."

Stakeholder Response: Construction Products Association

Allan Wilén, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said: "Greater support for first time buyers through the use of shared ownership schemes will provide some welcome help for those currently struggling to find a foothold on the housing market. 

"However the measure will unfortunately do nothing to help bring the housing market back into balance or to address the long term undersupply of housing in the UK.

"Indeed by effectively increasing the overall demand for housing, the measure will add to house price inflation and further widen the gap faced by the next generation of first time buyers.

"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 also 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

"The CML supports the development of a new public/private shared equity loan to help first-time buyers. We have been working with the government for some months.  While many details remain to be decided, we are hopeful of a workable scheme becoming operational next year.

"The scheme is not a catch-all solution to affordability issues in the housing market.It can make a modest contribution to ensuring that there are sufficient first-time buyers to enable the market to transact freely, but it needs to go hand-in-hand with significant increases in housing supply for the foreseeable future.