Nicky Morgan MP announced today how the Government’s housing policies are saving first-time buyers more than a third on the cost of a new home. This begins laying the foundations of our ambition to increase the number of first-time buyers by 33% over the next five years.
The Conservative Party are committed to building a Britain where everyone who works hard can have a home of their own.
With our Help to Buy scheme, our Starter Homes policy, and our stamp duty cuts, we’ve done a lot to help first-time buyers. After the Budget there’s now even more support for them with our new Help to Buy ISA.
Our economy is growing and with low inflation, the cost of living is going down in relation to take home pay. Following the recession, we want more people to be able to own their own home, so we are setting an ambition to increase the number of first-time buyers by a third compared to the last five years.
How we’re helping people to have a home of their own:
- Our Help to Buy ISA to help people save for their first home. This new ISA will mean for every £200 a first time buyer saves, the government will give a bonus of £50, up to £3,000. For a basic rate taxpayer it’s the equivalent of not paying any income tax on £15,000 savings towards a first home – a 10% deposit on the average cost of a first home.
- Cutting taxes to help people get on the ladder with our stamp duty reform. By getting rid of the old system with one more like income tax, we have cut stamp duty for 98% of those who would have paid it. If you buy an average priced home of £275,000, you now pay £4,500 less in tax.
- Building 200,000 new Starter Homes for first-time buyers. We will allow 200,000 new homes to be built across the country, double the original number, which will be 20% cheaper than the market price and will be for first-time buyers only under the age of 40.
And we’ve introduced the Conservative Help to Buy scheme. This has three parts:
- Equity Loans - Government provides an equity loan of up to 20% so someone only needs to provide a 5% cash deposit and can apply for a 75% mortgage.
- Mortgage Guarantee - Government guarantees the mortgages of those who can afford repayments, but who do not have a large deposit. This means lenders can have the confidence to provide sustainable 95% mortgages.
- NewBuy Guarantee - people can buy a new build home or flat with only a 5% deposit by allowing them to secure a 95% mortgage.
And remember - under Gordon Brown, Labour promised to build 240,000 homes a year but achieved barely half that number. In their last year, they only started on just over 124,000 houses.
So how will house building affect us in Rochester and Strood?
Rochester and Strood Conservatives and its parliamentary candidate Kelly Tolhurst are opposed to the development of Lodge Hill. In 2011 the former Conservative MP Mark Reckless stood up in Parliament in support of the development. This was not a policy of the Rochester and Strood Conservatives despite what he said.
Rochester and Strood Conservatives led the campaign to have the development called-in by the Government, and have succeeded.
The proposed development will be now determined by the government following a public inquiry. There is strong opposition to the development as the site has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and also to prevent the continued over development of the Peninsula, with insufficient infrastructure to support such growth.