From today, new rules will cut planning requirements for the new Starter Homes, allowing house builders to redice the usual price by 20%. Building on the first homes is expected to start within months.
The move is the latest major push from the government to get Britain building and help hardworking young people secure the dream of home ownership with potential discounts of around £100k per house.
With average house prices for first time buyers in England standing at around £218,000, a new Starter Home could save young first time buyers across the country an average of £43,000-helping to get them onto the housing ladder.
Thanks to changes in planning policy, builders that develop commercial and industrial land that is either unusable or surplus for the new starter homes will be able to save on costs by freeing them from the requirement to provide affordable housing. In return, they will have to offer the homes at a minimum 20 per cent discount to the market price to first-time buyers under 40.
The country’s leading home builders and councils have already have said they would consider bringing forward land to develop the new homes from this year, and from Monday, will be able to start submitting their plans to get work started and pass the savings onto home buyers as soon as possible.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We want to help people who work hard and want to get on in life but have been priced out of the housing market. A 20% discount off the price could be a real game-changer for many aspiring home-owners. My message is clear: we are on your side and we will help you fulfil your dream of buying your first home."
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: "Housebuilding and helping first-time buyers are key parts of our long-term economic plan – we’re clear that anyone who works hard and wants to get on the property ladder should get the help they need to do so. The number of first-time buyers is already at a seven-year high and these Starter Homes, available at a 20 per cent discount, will help even more people realise their dream of home ownership.
This will also form part of our wider efforts to get the country building again, which have already led to 700,000 new homes being delivered since the end of 2009."
Sir Terry Farrell CBE, Founding Partner at Farrells, said: "In the Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment I argued for design quality to be a much higher priority within government and I am delighted to see that this is happening. The templates developed by the government’s Housing Design Panel will raise the design standard of new-build homes as well as raise the expectations of those who buy and live in them.
I hope that this is the start of a much wider move towards architecture, design and placemaking becoming a more central part of public discourse in this country, where everyone feels they can have a say."
Ed Miliband has pledged to reach a target of 200,000 homes being built each year by 2020 and had this to say: "The Conservative Party chairman went on TV in an effort to convince people they had a plan for housing, but instead, he couldn't answer basic questions about where the money will come from or how their latest pie-in-the-sky scheme will work. In contrast, Labour has a comprehensive housing plan, not unfunded promises."
During Q4 2014, the number of homes being built in the UK fell by 0.2% - the first drop in home construction for nearly two years.
