New figures show families from all areas of the housing market are becoming home owners, whether tenants buying their home through the Right to Buy and shared ownership schemes, or people purchasing new build properties through Help to Buy.
Overall the number of home owners who have been helped to buy or reserve a home is over 112,000 since 2010 to 2011, with more sales in the pipeline.
Almost 24,000 social tenants have achieved their dream of home ownership through the Right to Buy, with the majority of sales since the government reinvigorated the scheme in 2012, 41,000 households have been able to buy their home through affordable schemes, such as shared ownership and almost 48,000 people are being helped to buy their home through Help to Buy and earlier schemes, with over 41,000 in new build homes, and the majority of those first time buyers.
Ministers said such support for home buyers was also getting the country building again and over 400,000 homes have been built since 2010. Starts on new homes in 2013 totalled 122,590, up by 23% on the previous year, and the highest since 2007.
‘In 2010 we inherited a broken housing market, where buyers couldn’t buy, builders couldn’t build, and lenders couldn’t lend. We’re now seeing buyers returning to the market in droves, and new homes being built across the country,’ said Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
‘Both buying and building are at their highest levels since 2007, underpinned by our action to cut the deficit and keep interest rates low. But there’s still more to do, and improving the housing market will remain a vital part of our long term economic plan,’ he added.
He also pointed out that cash from additional Right to Buy sales is also being recycled back into the development of new affordable homes for rent, with over 2,000 homes already in the pipeline.
According to Housing Minister Kris Hopkins reinvigorating the Right to Buy scheme has made tenants believe they can buy their home and further plans are set to ensure discounts rise with inflation, and increasing maximum discount for houses, so more social tenants can take up their Right to Buy in 2014. The cash from additional sales will be reinvested back into delivering new affordable homes for rent.
However, one expert thinks more should be done to stimulate demand. ‘Although a £1 billion fund has been granted to unlock housing development in the North in places such as Manchester and Leeds, supply also needs to be stimulated in areas where there is high demand for housing such as the South East and the more affordable areas surrounding Greater London,’ said Robin King, director of residential property firm Move with Us.
‘If supply can’t keep pace with demand, property prices will rise as multiple buyers vie for one property and this really could make home ownership unaffordable for many aspiring home owners in Britain. Building 400,000 new homes in four years is a step in the right direction but we need to build 400,000 every year, as we did in the great depression of the 1930s, to ensure supply keeps pace with demand,’ he explained.
‘There should also be an injection of investment in the supply chain businesses expanding production to supply more bricks, blocks and plasterboard otherwise the market will be somewhat restricted,’ he added.
He also pointed out that stimulating supply by reinvesting the money from properties sold to Right to Buy owners in new properties to social tenants to live in is a smart move as it will help to tackle the shortage of social housing.
