CML welcomes new government agenda

The proposed widening of access to shared equity schemes, enabling all first-time buyers with an income of less than £60,000 to have the opportunity to apply to buy a share of their home, is particularly welcome.

Other measures announced in the legislative programme include:

• An initiative to enable the Housing Corporation to allocate up to £200 million to buy new properties on the open market, to be made available either for first-time buyers to purchase through the Homebuy scheme or for social renting. Although this will have only a relatively modest impact on the housing market, it has the potential to widen the first-time buyer shared equity scheme.
• Proposals to give the Bank of England greater flexibility to respond to credit market conditions by allowing short-term non-disclosure of liquidity assistance. Lenders believe the Bank should be able to respond flexibly to changing conditions in credit markets.

Commenting on the proposals, the CML’s director general Michael Coogan said: “The government’s announcement on shared equity means that its approach is now more logical, providing help based on the income rather than the occupation of buyers. It will remove an anomaly by which providing help for one group of less well-paid workers makes access to home-ownership more difficult for others earning similar salaries but working in different jobs.”