Overview of Conservative Housing Policies

14th December 2019

Back in November, the Conservative’s guaranteed that a majority government would deliver more housing, helping more people to buy their own home and deliver a fairer deal for renters. Following the General Election on December 12th and a win for the party, we’ve taken a look at their key housing policies:

One million new houses were delivered in the last five years, including a quarter of a million homes last year. Building on this, the Conservatives aim to:

  • Deliver at least another million homes in the next five years, making further progress towards their target of 300,000 new houses a year by the mid-2020s.
  • Provide discounts for local first time buyers. Under a new First Home scheme, homes will be sold at a 30% discount to local first time buyers.
  • Help more renters buy their own home. There are currently two million renters who could afford mortgage payments but struggle to save the often-hefty sums required for a deposit. The party suggests that a new market in long-term fixed rate mortgages, requiring only 5% deposits, would make it easier for them to buy.

Renters also struggle to find money for the deposit on a new home while they still have money tied up in the deposit on their previous rented property. Under the Conservatives, renters will be able to have Lifetime Rental Deposits which can be transferred from one rental property to another, making the process of moving home easier and cheaper.

Other key areas outlined for evaluation include:

  • Voluntary Right to Buy for housing associations, building on a successful pilot of the scheme in the Midlands.
  • Maintaining Right to Buy for all council tenants.
  • Plans to reform Shared Ownership by setting a single standard for all housing associations.
  • Extending Help to Buy from 2021 to 2023.

To search for a Shared Ownership, Help to Buy on rental property in your area, head to Share to Buy’s property portal. From there, you can look for homes based off of your own requirements and needs including property type, number of bedrooms, search radius and deposit amount!