Property: Shared Ownership

Lord Bird Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2016 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I do not have a figure for the cost, but the noble Lord might like to be reminded that the income cap for this shared ownership policy has gone up from £60,000 to £80,000 in England, and I am pleased to say that it has gone up to £90,000 in London. That means that we are allowing 175,000 more households to have access to shared ownership.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

My Lords, is the fact that London houses are going up in price by £500 a day, according to the January figures, likely to have an effect on how many people can afford even a shared home?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

Obviously when prices go up it has an effect. However, we have put a lot of thought and research into this particular policy, in conjunction with other policies, and we believe that it is affordable. In London, for example, we look at a two-bed house costing £275,000, and we believe that the figures show this to be affordable.