Ministers also pointed to the delivery of almost a third of a million additional homes in the last 2 years, and 150,000 more affordable homes have been built under this government. Mr Pickles asserted that housing supply and confidence is now increasing, and has turned a corner since the unsustainable housing bubble burst.
Since the launch of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in April, there have been 10,000 reservations for new build homes and new housing supply is at its highest level since 2008, with a total of 319,000 additional homes across England having been added to housing supply in the 2 years to October 2012.
Over 150,000 affordable homes have been made available in England in the last 3 years, largely due to the wider affordable housing programmes, £19.5 billion of public and private investment is being spent on affordable housing over the current Spending Review period.
Interest rates remain at a record low thanks to the government’s action to reduce the deficit left by the last administration, helping new and existing homebuyers with the cost of a mortgage while the government’s Funding for Lending Scheme has also increased the availability of competitively priced mortgages
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said:
"This government’s package of measures to boost the housing market is working, with house building and housing supply on the up. The tough decisions we’ve taken to tackle the deficit are now delivering a sustainable increase in housing and providing real help to hard-working people.
"With over 10,000 reservations in 4 months, it’s clear that the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme is working well. By dealing with the big challenges, we are helping thousands of young people and families get on and move up the housing ladder, and Britain is building again."
Ben Thompson, MD Legal & General Mortgage Club, comments:
“There can be little doubt that Help to Buy has greatly assisted some of the recovery we have been seeing in the mortgage and housing markets. It is somewhat ironic that following five years of these markets being flat, we already have noise about house price bubbles and so on. The recovery has been led by London and the South East in particular, but not exclusively so, and a number of regions have barely had a sniff of recovery since the downturn.
“So the fine balance will be providing sufficient stimulus to ensure the housing market has properly and sustainably recovered, whilst ensuring that housing demand isn’t overly strong relative to supply.
“For many years now, in particular since the Barker Review, it has been well understood that we need to see a greater supply of new housing, to ensure that more people can at least stand a chance of being able to afford to own their own home. Tackling this issue head on, and more purposefully, would at least address supply issues. It would put a degree of control and appropriateness around the extent of future house price growth.”
