The Prime Minister has announced that a further £2 billion will be invested in affordable housing.
During yesterday’s Conservative conference speech, Theresa May stated this additional investment would raise the housing budget for affordable homes to just under £9 billion.
She also stated the government would encourage the bidding of these funds by housing associations and councils in order to provide tenants with greater certainty over rent prices.
A key point in the speech also related to council homes, with May pledging the delivery of a “new generation of council houses to help fix our broken housing market.”
Referring to prospective first-time buyers, renters as well as those on a council housing register, May suggested that the Conservative approach to housing would be one suited to all.
Whilst she acknowledged the potential challenges that the changes could bring, the Prime Minister pledged to make it her “mission to solve this problem.”
Commenting on the Conservative housing proposals was Charles Mc Dowell. The Commercial Director of Mortgages at Aldermore highlighted the current difficulties that first-time buyers are facing, stressing that housing supply needs to grow. However, he also acknowledged that simply building more homes would not solve the problem, drawing attention to the need for greater infrastructure in order to support new developments.
“It is a particularly difficult time for first time buyers due to demand significantly outmatching the supply of homes, and the affordability ratio of housing doubling since 1997. Our latest quarterly First Time Buyer Index shows that over a quarter (26%) of prospective first time buyers want to see the Government build more houses, and over one in three (34%) believe it could take them five or more years to get on the property ladder.
“We believe more needs to be done to increase house building, so it is promising to see that the Government has assured developers that land will be available for building. It is time to relax planning laws and selectively build on Green Belt land so that we are not left with a mismatched density in urban areas which then puts additional pressure on housing, and property prices and infrastructure within affected areas.
“When we talk about providing enough housing however, it is important not to focus on house building alone. There are a number of infrastructure considerations that need to be made alongside planning proposals. As well as homes, people need schools, transport, other services and amenities. Policymakers need to stop considering each issue as a standalone problem and take a holistic perspective.”
