Property News - Property industry reaction to government’s housing strategy for the delivery of new homes

Property News - Property industry reaction to government’s housing strategy for the delivery of new homes

With housebuilding levels at an historic low, the government's housing strategy, which was released yesterday, aims to boost the supply of new homes, particularly affordable homes, in a bid to help more first time buyers onto the housing ladder. But what does the housing industry think of yesterday's announcements?

Richard Lambert, chief executive, National Landlords Association (NLA), commented: "It is a very positive sign that the government has put housing back at the forefront of the political debate where it belongs.Having recognised that the private-rented sector (PRS) is playing an increasingly important role in meeting housing supply, it is crucial that efforts across government encourage the increased supply of homes to meet housing need.

"Diversification is necessary if housing supply is to grow in order to provide suitable accommodation for the UK's growing population. The government's approach seeks to address this by highlighting the sector's capacity to incorporate a variety of investment models to compliment the multitude of smaller investors who have helped grow the sector. Institutional investment, which currently makes up just 1% of the sector, can form part of this.

Peter Ford of Townends Land and New Homes said: "First-time buyers are the ‘life-blood' of the property market and in a climate where mortgage lenders are demanding deposits in excess of 15%, anything that is geared towards assisting such buyers is a positive step. This also brings some much needed good news to the housebuilding industry as a whole and has the potential to create new jobs as well as new homes. Hopefully this will open the door to a number of buyers who have been unable to pull together the necessary deposit required and enable those hard-pressed first time buyers to take that next step.