Housing Minister stresses dedication to meet new homes target

“Something has gone wrong when your kids have to wait for you to die to get on the ladder” Housing Minister’s frank verdict at Tory Party Conference.

Related topics:  Property
Warren Lewis
3rd October 2018
Gov 99

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse MP delivered a frank verdict on the UK’s property market, stating ‘something has gone wrong when your kids have to wait for you to die before they can get on the property ladder’. The recently-appointed minister was speaking at a panel at the Tory Party Conference, hosted by online mortgage broker Trussle in partnership with independent think tank Bright Blue.

Following Theresa May’s commitment to fixing the UK’s broken housing market at the weekend, Mr Malthouse opened the discussion stressing his dedication to meeting the Government’s target to build 300,00 new homes a year.

The panel also featured James Murray, Deputy London Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, Anthony Browne, Co-Founder of the Homeowners Alliance, Carol Lewis, Commissioning Editor of The Times and Trussle Founder and CEO Ishaan Malhi.

With a huge short-term focus being on planning and development, the Government aims to increase the supply of homes to meet the demand for housing and hopes that wages will increase to improve affordability of home ownership. The Housing Minister suggested that the Government is aiming to be in a position that earnings rise higher than inflation, helping people get a foot on the housing ladder.

While building new houses is essential, currently 80% of newly built homes are affordable to only 8% of London renters, according to Deputy London Mayor James Murray. Steps need to be taken to ensure housing becomes more accessible to everyone, from encouraging smaller housing developers to diversify their developments, to creating different tenures and property available within the same development to encourage a wide range of home owners - something which the majority of the panel proposed.

Lifestyles and working habits also continue to change, leaving many young and self-employed people locked out of the housing market. In fact, 43% of first-time buyers have admitted giving up being self-employed to get onto the property ladder.

Ishaan Malhi, founder and CEO of online mortgage broker Trussle, said, “The banks have not kept pace with how society is evolving. Many young people struggle to get on the ladder and still not enough is being done from the self-employed perspective.

Some people can afford the actual mortgage payments, but it’ll take them an average of nineteen years to save up the deposit. Using data from across the industry about which products consumers are applying for and their eligibility is key to building innovative and improved mortgage propositions, which will make home ownership accessible for all, whatever their circumstances.

Everyone should be able to dream of owning a home. But with homes increasingly unaffordable and mortgages not easily accessible, home ownership is become more difficult for the current generation. Both the Government and the industry need to address this today.”

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