All main parties have set out their positions on housing for the election (Picture: Getty / Metro.co.uk)
As mortgage rates remain high and rent continues to rise, housing policy is a major issue for the 2024 General Election.
The Conservatives have pledged to help more first-time buyers onto the ladder, while Labour wants to build more homes including council housing, and the Liberal Democrats are looking to alleviate homelessness.
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One in ten voters told a recent YouGov poll that housing will be the main issue that will inform their choice, while many more say it ranks highly along other concerns such as the cost of living.
Here’s how the main parties at the election are approaching housing, and what each of the manifestos have pledged.
Conservative Party‘s manifesto policies on housing
The 2024 General Election – Metro style
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Rishi Sunak launched the Conservative Party manifesto on June 11 (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Help to Buy
One of the Tories’ key pledges is to bring back a ‘new and improved’ version of the Help to Buy scheme, which was in place from 2013 to 2023.
Designed to help buyers struggling to get on the property ladder, the scheme provided government contributions toward equity loans. During the scheme’s existence, 387,195 properties were bought with an equity loan – 328,346 of which were purchased by first-time buyers.
The Conservative manifesto says the new Help to Buy will allow buyers to take out an equity loan of up to 20% (40% in London) of the price of a new-build property.
The new iteration of the scheme will also allow people to buy a home with a 5% deposit, and enjoy up to five years interest-free.
Additional housing
Elsewhere, the Tories have pledged to ‘build more houses in the right places,’ committing in their manifesto to delivering 1.6 million homes in England by:
Abolishing the legacy EU ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules and, in doing so, build 100,000 new homes through local consent laws
Delivering what the party labels a ‘record number’ of homes by building on brownfield areas in urban regions and regenerating sites like Euston, Old Oak Common and Thamesmead
Committing to new urban regeneration schemes, supporting the delivery of houses in cities like Leeds, Liverpool and …read more
Source:: Metro
