In feedback from the Housing Green Paper, the government has been urged to make changes to the HomeBuy schemes, to further aid aspiring first-time buyers. The paper, entitled ‘Homes for the Future: More Affordable, More Sustainable – Housing Green Paper’ also looked at the impact of the buy-to-let market on the first-time buyer market.
Responding to the paper, Jackie Bennett, head of policy at the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said: “The pilot Open Market Homebuy scheme launched around a year ago has in practice proved over-complicated and overall take-up has been poor. Those lenders involved with the scheme devoted considerable resources to it, only to find that the government changed the parameters before allowing the pilot to run its course. We would now prefer to see the government’s efforts being put into publicly funded shared equity schemes linked to new housing supply, which is crucial.”
Neil Johnson, head of PR and policy at the Building Societies Association, urged the paper not to look at buy-to-let as hindering first-time buyer opportunity. “We don’t want to see the government negatively impact on buy-to-let. For many demographic groups, it’s an important service for them. If they did away with the private rented sector, all those renters wouldn’t just go out and buy homes as they just can’t afford it.
“Renting is not housing for losers any more. Landlords have to provide good quality properties or they won’t get tenants. It’s not like the 1950s any more.”
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