Conservatives pledge ‘at least’ a million homes over next five years

Other policies included:

• New “First Homes”, which will be sold at a 30% discount to first-time buyers – apparently modelled on David Cameron’s ‘Starter Homes’ pledge from 2015
• A continued commitment to Theresa May’s promise to end ‘no-fault’ evictions
• A new market for “lifetime” fixed-rate mortgages, which will come with 5% deposits
• “Lifetime” deposits for the private rented sector, allowing renters to move the same deposit to a new tenancy when moving home
• An “accelerated” green paper on planning, aimed at speeding up the planning process
• Reforming the Housing Infrastructure Fund to provide greater flexibility to Homes England

The First Home pledge would be delivered through a change to the National Planning Policy Framework and would be delivered through developers’ Section 106 contributions – which are currently a major route for the supply of affordable housing.

The Conservatives believe the discount could apply to up to 19,000 homes by the mid-2020s and would be “locked into the property”. An income threshold would apply – although this has not yet been revealed.

Mr Cameron’s pledge to build 200,000 Starter Homes with 20% discounts was dropped by Theresa May in 2017 without a single home being built, despite £174m being spent.

The policy provoked the ire of mortgage lenders, valuers, developers and the social housing sector because of its knock-on effects on affordable housing supply and property valuations.

As London mayor, Boris Johnson lobbied against the policy as he felt that it could damage the delivery of shared ownership housing in London.

The party has also pledged to continue with Ms May’s promise to scrap ‘no-fault’ Section 21 evictions.

The Conservative Party said it would also “strengthen” the grounds for landlords to regain possession as part of the move, “enabling a landlord to pass their property on to a child or family member, move into it themselves or sell it”.

Private tenants will be offered “lifetime rental deposits” that will allow them to transfer a deposit to a new property, meaning they will not have to wait for their landlord to return an old one.

The party said this was “also referred to as deposit passporting, [and] this will mean renters can have one deposit that moves with them, preventing the need to save hundreds or thousands of pounds each time they want to move”.

On lifetime mortgages, the party said it would draw in institutional investors to offer lending at fixed rates.

“We will bring in institutional investors, such as pensions funds, who desire a long-term stable return, and support homeowners by offering secure and stable mortgages at fixed-rate interest over the lifetime of their mortgage, protecting them from spikes in interest rates. It would allow homeowners to lock in today’s historically low interest rates and provide greater stability in their long-term finances,” the party said.

Mr Johnson said: “The Conservatives have always been the party of homeownership, but under a Conservative majority government in 2020 we can and will do even more to ensure everyone can get on and realise their dream of owning their home. At the moment renting a property can also be an uncertain and unsettling business, and the costs of deposits make it harder to move. We are going to fix that.”

In other housing promises announced today, Labour is pledging to spend £75bn on housebuilding over the next five years. The money would be used to build at least 150,000 new social homes a year within five years, with 100,000 of these to be delivered by councils and the rest by housing associations.

As they unveiled their manifesto yesterday, the Liberal Democrats pledged to build 300,000 homes a year, of which 100,000 would be for social rent.