In the run up to the general election it should be heartening to the construction industry that the main political parties are beginning to show leadership in their visions for the delivery of new homes to tackle the UK’s housing crisis.

 

Following Labour’s Ed Miliband’s pledge to get the industry creating 200,000 new homes a year by 2020 David Cameron has pledged to double the existing target to create 100,000 cheap starter homes to 200,000.

 

The new starter homes would be made available to people under 40 who would be entitled to certain discounts to help get more people in work on the property ladder.

 

Under this new scheme house builders would be exempted from paying planning gain contributions on brownfield sites if they offer homes to first time buyers at 20% below the market value.

 

Many house builders have already agreed to run the new initiative, including Taylor Wimpey and Bellway.

 

The scheme is aimed at reducing the prices of houses at the bottom end of the market to help more people own their own homes (something which is declining), and a design team including the renowned architects Sir Terry Farrell and Sir Quinlan Terry have drawn on housing designs from across the country for home builders to consider in the construction of these new Starter Homes.

dquo;We've shown what we expect starter homes to look like – not rabbit hutches or shoeboxes, but decent, well-built, homes with gardens – places to start and raise a family.”

 

“This policy will work, not least because property developers, the builders, the building industry are all coming out and saying they will deliver it,” he added after his speech in Colchester this afternoon.

 

Rhian Kelly, CBI Business Environment Director, said: “Starter Homes are a step in the right direction to building the 240,000 new homes a year we sorely need, but we would want to see more detail on how the proposals could be implemented on the ground.

 

“It’s important that policymakers of all shades don’t rule out options for land use, including low-quality green belt.

 

“Our chronic national housing shortage is a serious headache for businesses and those wanting to get on the housing ladder. Whilst the Help to Buy scheme has been useful, further bold action really needs to be taken to improve the supply of affordable housing to rent and buy.”

 

The housing market is broken and there’s no doubt we now need a political intervention to make the market conditions right to stimulate building, however it’s the private sector construction industry that will deliver our housing needs.

 

Whichever political party takes power following the coming election it’s good to see housing is up there as one of the country’s key issues, this is great news for the construction industry and will see the growth in construction jobs and demand for construction supplies throughout England and the rest of the UK.