A wider range of “affordable housing” is what former Prime Minister David Cameron lauded and was delivered by way of the Governments latest White Paper. However quite how this change in stance genuinely affects the balance between what is “affordable” and what could only be purchased by “first time buyers” is surely the key. Since being a first time buyer in 2001 I have seen nothing that has made the process easier other than having a larger deposit and a wage increase.
How you get this could be a matter of luck, graft, and genetics with a familiar pinch of nepotism becoming the deciding factor.
If the Governments pledge to contribute to savings, shared ownership or life time ISA’s do actually work then in equal measure they have failed. Most schemes have been withdrawn and most were badly marketed resulting in very little uptake.
Bottom line it’s simple. If you want to own a home and you want a mortgage that ties you to it, then you have to find the money to pay for it. You also have to have the earnings to support it. If both answers are yes then you now need to find the housing stock you can afford……
……As of 8th February 2017 it didn’t exist. The Government want 250,000 new homes each year until 2020. Unless the majority of this stock is affordable nothing can or will change and with 360,000 homes having already undergone planning within our existing Green Belt this entire proposal seems more unlikely than ever.
