In the full document, the government suggests the use of guarantees as a way of encouraging private investment in homeownership, an initiative already used in the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme.
Further details are not yet available but the plans could draw similarities from the housing guarantee scheme for the private rental sector (PRS) which intends to accelerate the growth of investment in the sector through institutional investors. The government has announced that the PRS guarantee scheme will now be extended until December 2017.
The government published a prospectus for the Starter Home Initiative (SHI) yesterday after the Budget, inviting expressions of interest from local authorities who wish to gain access to a £1.2bn fund to prepare brownfield land for new homes.
The SHI was announced by the government last year to help young first-time buyers under the age of 40 to purchase a home with a minimum 20% discount off the market price.
Using the £1.2bn fund, the government aims to contribute around 30,000 of its 200,000 starter homes target to prepare brownfield land for these properties. The fund will be used over the next three financial years to get this land ready and ensure construction of starter homes is happening from 2018 onwards, the government said.
