Households who are “just managing” will be able to buy their homes after 25 years of paying rent, under government plans expected to be outlined in the Autumn Statement.
The weekend papers ran stories of a proposed scheme allowing rent-paying tenants to build up equity with no deposit or mortgage.
Reportedly the National Housing Federation has assured ministers local housing authorities could build 335,000 homes over four years, with ‘some’ on the buy as you go tenure, if extra funding was provided.
‘Buy as you go’ homes will be valued at around 90% of the local market rate.
On the steps of No 10, in her inaugural address as Prime Minister, May said her government would be “driven” by the interests of individuals that were “just managing…working around the clock” and yet finding life “a struggle”.
The development comes as Labour releases new figures showing that the drop in homeownership since 2010 has been worst for young people in the north of England.
In October, the government announced a £3bn fund to increase the number of homes built in England and invited a spectrum of developers to apply for the funds, including smaller and community builders.
Victoria Hartley is contributing editor at Mortgage Solutions, Specialist Lending Solutions, Your Money and Your Mortgage at London-based publishing company AE3 Media.
She has an MA in Radio from Goldsmiths after gaining a 2:1 in a Comparative American Studies BA at Warwick University. She also holds a TEFL qualification and taught overseas in Mexico and Japan from 1994 to 1997.
Her role includes editorial oversight of the news, analysis and features, event content management and strategic and editorial consultancy for the AE3 Media group. She is an experienced video, broadcast and live-event host and regularly chairs web and podcast debates and interviews.
Multiple award nominations have resulted in two wins: Santander Media Awards, trade journalist of the year and Headlinemoney Awards, mortgage journalist of the year (B2B). Here is one of the award-winning pieces: https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2011/07/21/exclusive-tale-bailey-fraud-witness/
Previous roles include editorships of Mortgage Solutions, consumer title What Mortgage and trade title Credit Today as well as a stint freelancing for a variety of outlets including The Guardian and Which? Money.