Government failing on affordable homes target – My Home Move

The firm said its research showed that most people (66%) view affordable housing as properties valued at under £120,000.

However, in researching Land Registry data, My Home Move said only 4% of ‘affordable’ properties, (those bought for below the stamp duty threshold of £125,000 between January and September 2016) were new-build homes.

Commenting on these findings Doug Crawford, chief executive officer of My Home Move, said: “During last month’s Autumn Statement the government renewed its pledge to build more homes across the UK, with a particular emphasis on 40,000 additional ‘affordable’ homes. Through our own research we know that two in three people believe affordable housing should cost less than £120,000. This begs the question – is the government really capable of delivering on its promise, as only 4% of ‘affordable’ homes purchased this year were classified as new builds.”

Highlighting the issues that the UK faces at a regional level, he added: “Looking at the numbers, the largest proportion of ‘affordable’ new homes have been built across Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands; however for those struggling to get on the property ladder in Berkshire, Herefordshire, Surrey and London – the picture is fairly grim. Across the four regions only 1,544 properties were sold for less than £125,000, of which barely a handful, just 57, were newly built.”

Patrick Bamford, business development director, AmTrust International, Mortgage  and Special Risks, believes tackling the affordable housing crisis needs intervention both in terms of the number of homes and the finance available for borrowers.

He said: “It’s positive to see the government recognising the scale of the problem and putting more investment and resource into this area, but to get on top of this requires significant building resource and given many small to medium sized builders have left the industry then it appears this will remain a problem for the foreseeable future.”

Bamford added: “We have the rather large problem of mortgage finance availability for those who want to buy, but only have small deposits. The end of Help to Buy 2 is upon us, and we are working hard with lenders to ensure that those who can afford these new-build properties have high loan-to-value product availability in order to get on the ladder.”