THE Government is set to underwrite mortgages for first-time buyers as part of efforts to “unstick” the housing market.
Prime Minister David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat deputy Nick Clegg said they wanted to support the construction industry and make the “dream of home ownership” a reality for more people.
The drive also includes a £400m scheme targeting housebuilding schemes which stalled through a lack of development finance.
But Labour branded the action “small beer” and insisted far more was needed to get the economy going again.
Housing construction is currently at its lowest since the Second World War, mortgage lending tightly restricted and rent and purchase prices high.
The report – Laying The Foundations: A Housing Strategy For England – sets out details of policies to revive the industry and solve the homes shortage, such as boosting right-to-buy council home discounts.
More public land is being made available for development and money earmarked to bring empty houses back into use.
The £400m Get Britain Building fund is set to “unlock” the construction of up to 16,000 homes and around 3,200 of those would be affordable properties, according to Downing Street.
The cash injection will also support up to 32,000 jobs, according to officials.
It comes on top of a £500m Growing Places Fund for development announced earlier this month.
The Government will underwrite the risk of some lending on newly-built homes.
It is hoped the move will help first-time buyers get on the property ladder by allowing deposits to drop from 20% to as little as 5%.
In a joint foreword to the report, the Prime Minister and Mr Clegg said: “With this strategy, we will unlock the housing market, get Britain building again, and give many more people the satisfaction and security that comes from stepping over their own threshold. These plans are ambitious – but we are determined to deliver on them.”
A Liverpool Council spokesman said: “We are currently looking at the Government’s housing strategy, but we are not in a position to comment further on it until we have a better understanding of how the plans could affect Liverpool.”
