Launching his Housing Manifesto today, the Conservative hopeful said he would work with high street lenders, the government and six London Local Authority pension funds to bring in this mortgage.
London mayor candidate Zac Goldsmith has pledged to introduce a “Mayor’s Mortgage” lasting nine months rather than the standard six to encourage off-plan sales.
Launching his Housing Manifesto today, the Conservative hopeful said he would work with high street lenders, the government and six London Local Authority pension funds to bring in this mortgage.
Currently the manifesto said buying property before it completes is impossible for all but cash buyers, which drives the ‘buy to leave’ phenomenon.
He also pledged to build 50,000 homes a year by 2020 and appoint a ‘chief architect’ to drive up the quality of housebuilding.
Goldsmith said: "Housing is the most important issue facing London. I am clear that the only way to fix London’s housing crisis is to build more homes and we can only do that with a Mayor that will protect transport investment to open up new land, keep our economy strong and work with the government to release public land for development.
“As Mayor, I will not just build more homes but build better homes too, working with my new chief architect and local communities to design a London we will all be proud to call our home.”
He will hire ‘flying planners’ to provide planning support for London’s local councils with the aim of speeding up development, while the ‘chief architect’ would advise on building high quality developments and would hold developers to account for local communities.
On the pledge to build 50,000 homes a year by 2020, Goldsmith said he would protect Transport for London‘s investment budget to secure transport links needed to open up land. Homes built on Transport for London land would also only be sold to people have lived and worked in London for at least three years to prevent investors gazumping locals.
He would require developers to deliver more homes for Londoners on average salaries, adding that homes built should reflect the needs of local communities rather than investors.
Goldsmith vowed to help small builders compete by giving them “first refusal” for any smaller public sector sites and by simplifying the public sector procurement process to save time and money
He said he would also ‘strengthen’ the London Rental Standard – a voluntary set of minimum standards that the Mayor expects from landlords, managing agents and letting agents – so three year tenancies are increasingly offered as standard and estate agent fees are upfront and cost-reflective.
