First Homes Scheme - Your thoughts?

Sunsaru

"First-time buyers in England offered new homes at up to 50% off | First-time buyers | The Guardian" https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2021/jun/04/first-time-buyers-in-england-offered-new-homes-at-up-to-50-off

StandingInTheSun

Think it's a good idea. FTBs have never encountered a market as difficult as this before in terms of just getting on the ladder, and new homes are too often snapped up by greedy landlords. 

crazyoldmaurice

I'm pretty bummed it's only available to first time buyers, and not those who have previously owned a property but don't currently.

We escaped our shared ownership flat a few months ago after it taking a whole year to sell and are currently living with relatives. Can't afford to buy anywhere locally with prices having jumped so high and my partners keyworker job isn't able to be done remotely for us to relocate. Desperately need the space for our family but currently stuck. I don't see why those having previously owned property should be excluded. This would be ideal for us, although in our borough currently they only seem to be building high rise flats rather than houses so maybe it doesn't matter anyway.

Slithery

crazyoldmaurice said:

I'm pretty bummed it's only available to first time buyers, and not those who have previously owned a property but don't currently.

Where's the cut-off point though?

Can I sell my property that's gone up 500% since I bought it and have paid off the mortgage, move into rented for a bit, and then take advantage of the scheme because 'I've previously owned a property but don't currently'?

BikingBud

Another weak palliative! 10,000 per year in future years! Wow:

Failing to meet housing need
Estimates have put the number of new homes needed in England at up to 345,000 per year, accounting for new household formation and a backlog of existing need for suitable housing. In 2019/20, the total housing stock in England increased by around 244,000 homes. This around 1% higher than the year before – and the amount of new homes supplied annually has been growing for several years – but is still lower than estimated need.

But I'm sure the builders will continue to make obscene profits.

Cancel HS2 and spend all the money on building homes, 2/3/4 bedrooms to standard plans, to a defined standard and to a fixed price.
Compulsory purchase of land that has been sat in land banks.
Sell 50% at cost plus admin fees and keep 50% for proper social housing (no RTB, never to be sold)
Start now, do it quickly and free the excessive money going into large building firms and private landlords pension schemes to go into the wider economy.

Accept that for some this is heresy and intolerable but we should be focusing on an enduring solution that will provide housing at a reasonable price for our children and grandchildren.

Mickey666

BikingBud said:

Another weak palliative! 10,000 per year in future years! Wow:

Failing to meet housing need
Estimates have put the number of new homes needed in England at up to 345,000 per year, accounting for new household formation and a backlog of existing need for suitable housing. In 2019/20, the total housing stock in England increased by around 244,000 homes. This around 1% higher than the year before – and the amount of new homes supplied annually has been growing for several years – but is still lower than estimated need.

But I'm sure the builders will continue to make obscene profits.

Cancel HS2 and spend all the money on building homes, 2/3/4 bedrooms to standard plans, to a defined standard and to a fixed price.
Compulsory purchase of land that has been sat in land banks.
Sell 50% at cost plus admin fees and keep 50% for proper social housing (no RTB, never to be sold)
Start now, do it quickly and free the excessive money going into large building firms and private landlords pension schemes to go into the wider economy.

Accept that for some this is heresy and intolerable but we should be focusing on an enduring solution that will provide housing at a reasonable price for our children and grandchildren.

Yes, those are the only sorts of things that will stabilise, even reduce, house prices.  But beware of mass building of pokey little homes just for the sake of statistics and political points scoring.  We should be not satisfied with minimally 'adequate' homes that are little more than 'breeding boxes' with tiny 'runs' for a garden.

crazyoldmaurice

Slithery said:

crazyoldmaurice said:

I'm pretty bummed it's only available to first time buyers, and not those who have previously owned a property but don't currently.

Where's the cut-off point though?

Can I sell my property that's gone up 500% since I bought it and have paid off the mortgage, move into rented for a bit, and then take advantage of the scheme because 'I've previously owned a property but don't currently'?

It says somewhere on the info about the scheme that you must not have the money to buy on the open market in the area you currently live/work in the usual way. So there's the cut off, unaffordable is unaffordable.