We must applaud any – and all – initiatives to increase housing supply, however, what we need is next day delivery, not the promise of a cheque in the post.
The announcement continues to talk about the ‘why’ and the ‘when’ but we simply don’t have the ‘how’ and the ‘where’. The house building industry is desperately short of human resource and if we are to get Britain building the number of new houses required, we need to address this problem to create actual homes and not aspirational targets.
Those able to access this so called ‘affordable housing’ still require some pretty hefty incomes to qualify and with wage inflation still being significantly outpaced by house price inflation, the plight of the first time buyer will only be compounded over the next five years.
The announcement of the three per cent increase in stamp duty for people buying buy-to-let properties or second homes will put a stop to those entering the sector. However, this is encouraging for FTBs as they won’t be in competition with as many buy-to-let and second property buyers.
The introduction of the London Help to Buy initiative is a step in the right direction for FTBs, although a five per cent deposit on the average price of a home in London is still not affordable enough.
