While the NHS is clearly going to be the major battleground with taxes, the economy and the welfare state weighing in as the other key points of debate, what does each of the main parties promise when it comes to the housing market?
The Conservatives have pledged to introduce a scheme allowing first-time buyers in England under the age of 40 to be able to buy a house at 20% below the market rate, with 200,000 starter homes to be built for them on previously used “brownfield” land. If the first-time buyer sells their home within five years then the will have to repay the 20% price advantage. The scheme will be designed to prevent these properties being snapped up by buy-to-let landlords.
The party also plans to introduce a Help to Buy ISA that would contribute an additional 25% to any money saved for a deposit by a first-time buyer, up to a maximum government contribution of £3,000.
The Labour party has described home ownership as a ‘disappearing dream’. It has pledged to build 200,000 houses a year by 2020 including the creation of new towns and garden cities. It plans to give priority to local first-time buyers in new housing areas and will prioritise capital investment in housing to build more affordable homes.
Labour is also targeting the private rental market, proposing to cap rent increases in the private sector, introduce long term tenancy agreements and scrap letting fees to estate agents to give a “fairer deal” to tenants.
The Lib Dems are also adopting a twin-pronged approach with policies for both homebuyers and tenants. They propose to increase house building to 300,000 a year and set in motion at least 10 new garden cities in counties such as Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
They also want to create 30,000 Rent to Own homes a year by 2020 and will also introduce legislation to ban landlords from letting out poorly insulated homes.
UKIP wants to protect the greenbelt by making it easier to build on previously developed land and will establish a UK Brownfield Agency to provide grants, loans and tax breaks. It has also pledged that any major planning decisions will have to be ratified by local referendum. It is also promising to prioritise social housing for people with parents born locally.
The Green Party appears to be focused more on the rental market. It is pledging to abolish the right to buy council homes, bring empty homes back into use and plans to build 500,000 social rental homes by 2020. Like Labour, it also wants to cap rent and introduce longer tenancies.
The SNP, which could end up playing a major part in a potential agreement with Labour if there is a hung parliament, has pledged to build 30,000 new homes in the lifetime of this Holyrood parliament and stands by its current affordable homes policy and the abolition of the right-to-buy social housing which becomes law in 2016.
There has never been a more uncertain outcome to a general election, certainly not for as long as I can remember – and that uncertainty is likely to have a negative impact on the residential property market. I fear that we’re entering a period of instability over the coming weeks and months as people either rush to or hold back from a purchase or sale until there is greater certainty not only as to what the government for the next five years will consist of, but also what measures it is likely to introduce.
We’re all are going to have to hold our nerve and keep on doing our day jobs while the jigsaw pieces fall into place.
