Ministers abandon Starter Homes target and 20% threshold

In today’s White Paper, it confirmed it will now aim to create 200,000 homeowners through a mix of programmes including shared ownership, Help to Buy and Right to Buy.

The document said Starter Homes will be “an important part of this offer alongside our action to build other affordable homeownership tenures”.

It has also dropped plans, proposed last March, to require developers to make 20% of all new sites Starter Homes in lieu of other affordable housing, which had been met with fierce criticism from the sector.

Today it said it would instead require 10% of all sites to be for affordable homeownership with the percentage of Starter Homes set locally by councils.

The White Paper said: “We have listened to concerns that our original plans for a mandatory requirement of 20% Starter Homes on all developments over a certain size will impact on other affordable homes. We want local authorities to deliver Starter Homes as part of a mixed package of affordable housing that can respond to local needs and local markets.”

It also said the length of time before the home could be sold at full market value would be increased to 15 years, a change proposed in the House of Lords and roundly rejected by ministers.

Starter Homes, sold at a 20% discount on their market value, were David Cameron’s flagship housing product in the 2015 election.