Local Authority Partnerships to spearhead Starter Homes scheme selected.
2017 will see the first Starter Homes being built on brownfield sites across the country, Housing Minister Gavin Barwell has confirmed.
Under the scheme thousands of new homes backed with financial support will be built for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old at a discount of at least 20% below market value.
The first wave of 30 local authority partnerships – which have been selected on the basis of their potential for early delivery – will spearhead schemes. These partnerships have been established under the government’s £1.2 billion Starter Homes Land Fund.
Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said: “This government is committed to building Starter Homes to help young first time buyers get on the housing ladder. This first wave of partnerships shows the strong local interest to build thousands of Starter Homes on hundreds of brownfield sites in the coming years. One in three councils has expressed an interest to work with us so far.”
Responding to the news, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “It’s great to see the Housing Minister kick off 2017 by giving the green light to the first Starter Homes. These homes will help some first time buyers get a foot on the housing ladder, and our small house builders are enthusiastic about delivering on that vision, but starter homes will not be a panacea. A wider set of measures aimed at increasing the capacity of the house building industry are needed to overturn the long-term under-supply of new homes. Central to this must be getting small and medium-sized (SME) builders delivering more new homes. For instance, the announcement of 14 ‘garden villages’ and more garden towns needs to be backed up by implementation plans which provide opportunities to SME builders as well as the large companies.”
