Ed Miliband will today outline Labour’s pledge to scrap stamp duty for first-time buyer transactions on properties worth under £300,000.
This follows his announcement over the weekend that a Labour government would legislate to cap rent rises over the term of an agreement to CPI inflation.
Miliband will also announce First Call and Local First. The firmer will give first time buyers that have lived in an area for more than three years “first call” on up to half of homes built in their area.
The second scheme is designed to stop foreign buyers buying up properties before local buyers get a look in by ensuring they are advertised in local areas, increasing taxes paid by foreign buyers and council tax for empty homes.
Labour has claimed it will build one million new homes over the course of the next parliament. It will provide “use or lose it” powers ensuring developers build on land rather than hoarding it via the right to levy council tax on sites which remains undeveloped, as well as plans for a series of new garden cities and wider reform of the housing market.
Miliband will say: “There’s nothing more British than the dream of home ownership, starting out in a place of your own. But for so many young people today that dream is fading with more people than ever renting when they want to buy, new properties being snapped up before local people get a look-in, young families wondering if this country will ever work for them.
“That is the condition of Britain today, a modern housing crisis which only a Labour government will tackle.”
Rhian Kelly, CBI director for business environment, said: “Labour is right to focus on increasing housing supply, as the UK needs to build 240,000 homes a year by 2025 to meet demand and add more garden cities to provide the communities our country needs. This work should be led by a new national infrastructure commission.
“Institutional investors, which are critical for building new homes, could be discouraged by plans to intervene in the rental market in this way, as it will add uncertainty – private rental market regulation must strike a balance between adequately protecting tenants and not overburdening landlords or property managers.”
