The Politics of Housebuilding
The Politics of Housebuilding
Two weeks, two Party Conferences and two different approaches to kickstarting the housebuilding sector.
Your First Home
Last week’s Labour Party Conference was the launchpad for Labour’s new ‘Your First Home’ scheme, a revival of the ‘Help to Buy’ programme that was discontinued in 2023. With full details promised for the Budget (28th October) and the scheme to be available from January 2027, in outline, according to @This is Money, “the price of the average first-time buyer property is £228,000. Under the Your First Home plans, you would need to put down £5,700, take an equity loan of £44,460 and arrange a mortgage of £177,840.”
Also still to be announced is the fee developers will have to pay to take part (and whether this will equally support SME’s builders and larger developers) and the level at which the scheme’s regional price cap will be set around the country.
Scrapping Net Zero Measures
At this week’s Conservative Party Conference, according to the @Daily Telegraph, the Tories have pledged to “reduce the price of a new-build home by £50,000 in a bonfire of red tape”. This will be made up of:
- £30,000 by scrapping the Future Homes Standard that requires developers to include heat pumps or other low-carbon technology in their designs from 2027.
- £3,100 by relaxing rules around water efficiency
- Further cost savings coming from getting rid of requirements for electric vehicle chargers and wider internal staircases.
Will they work?
There are still many other factors that will dictate the success of either measure, not least the likelihood of interest rates, increasing unemployment lines and sinking property values – as well as the ability of the Conservatives to win the next election, or at least to lead a coalition.
So, roll on the budget. And an election?
James Scott
MD
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