Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote home ownership.

First Homes, our new home ownership scheme, will be prioritised for first-time buyers and will allow them to buy a new home with a discount, at least 30 per cent under market value. In some areas, the discounts could be as high as 50 per cent. This will significantly reduce both deposit and mortgage requirements and open up the dream of home ownership to even more people.

Our new Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme from April 2021 to March 2023 will be targeted at helping first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder.

As set out in the Conservative manifesto of December 2019, the Government will encourage a market in long-term fixed rate mortgages with low deposits to promote home ownership. We stand ready to work with the sector to explore the possible options to bring these products to market.

The Government is committed to supporting the supply of new homes, delivering around 244,000 last year, the highest in over 30 years.

We are bringing forward an ambitious near £20 billion investment, including over £12 billion in Affordable Housing over 5 years, and over £7 billion to both unlock new land through the provision of infrastructure and diversify the market through our National Home Building Fund. Alongside our reforms to the planning system, this will deliver the new homes the country needs.