Housing minister Grant Shapps has outlined some of the government’s plans to get the housing market started on the path to recovery, six weeks before the Budget is announced. Property buyers are expected to welcome measures to find new sites for house building, providing a greater supply of properties to choose from, while those interested in new builds will benefit from the NewBuy Guarantee scheme, which allows them to purchase with a significantly smaller deposit.
While buyers usually need a £40,000 deposit before getting a mortgage for a new build, the scheme will make it possible with just £10,000. Mr Shapps also said power will be devolved from Whitehall to Town Halls in a bid to end the long-running “tax on tenants”. The £19 billion deal will allow councils to keep the rents they collect and put the money back into the houses they manage.
“The pattern of the past has been to produce endless policies and initiatives that simply gather dust on Whitehall shelves and lead to inaction and inertia,” said the minister. “But with the Prime Minister putting housing centre stage on the road to economic recovery, I am determined that we shall not repeat these mistakes of the past.”
