The government is set to boost the housing market by directly commissioning the building of 13,000 homes, using up public land.
Smaller developers will be able to buy sites across England which will already have planning permission in place.
40 per cent of these 13,000 new-builds are to be “starter homes” and will be aimed at first time buyers.
David Cameron described the move as a “huge shift in government policy,” while Labour criticised him, saying the PM was using “rhetoric to hide his failure on new homes,” and that the announcement did not promise any new homes beyond those already announced.
“We know that consistently 90 per cent of people aspire to own their own home, and for many years now home ownership has been in decline,” said the Communities Secretary Greg Clark on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
One of the main ways to try and match this demand with supply, he said, is to involve smaller building businesses, and let them have a more even shot at the market. He said that currently 50 per cent of the housing market is made up of just eight of the largest building firms in the country, an imbalance that needs addressing.
This push for affordable housing will be piloted on five sites, including locations in North-West London, Dover, Chichester, Cambridgeshire, and Gosport.
The press for quicker, more efficient homebuilding is important, and will hopefully help to meet the incredibly high demand in the housing market.
