Green light for construction of thousands of new Starter Homes
New homes for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old at a discount of at least 20% below market value.
2017 will see the first Starter Homes being built on brownfield sites across the country, Housing Minister Gavin Barwell has confirmed today (3 January 2017).
Thousands of new homes backed with financial support will help more first time buyers into home ownership.
They will be built exclusively for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old at a discount of at least 20% below market value.
The first wave of 30 local authority partnerships – selected on the basis of their potential for early delivery – will spearhead schemes.
These partnerships have been established under the government’s £1.2 billion Starter Homes Land Fund which supports the development of starter homes on sites across England.
These new developments will also support the wider growth and regeneration of local areas, including some town centre sites, and help make sure this is a country that works for everyone.
The first places will begin construction later this year along with sites supported by the Homes and Communities Agency.
Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said:
This government is committed to building Starter Homes to help young first time buyers get on the housing ladder.
This first wave of partnerships shows the strong local interest to build thousands of Starter Homes on hundreds of brownfield sites in the coming years. One in three councils has expressed an interest to work with us so far.
The Starter Homes Land Fund was set up to prepare suitable land for quality starter home developments which can be built on by developers or through accelerated construction by 2020.
Each local authority partnership will work closely with the Homes and Communities Agency to identify and take forward further land opportunities for the fund.
In addition, the Homes and Communities Agency has also today issued a call seeking expressions of interest from local authorities who are interested in using their land to deliver homes at pace through the £1.7 billion accelerated construction recently announced. This will see up to 15,000 homes started on surplus public sector land this Parliament.
Further information
The Homes and Communities Agency received 79 expressions of interest from 120 local authorities across the country outside London, many involving joint submissions, in response to the Starter Homes: unlocking the land fund prospectus.
Starter Homes are new homes built exclusively for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old at a discount of at least 20% below market value.
The £1.2 billion Starter Home Land Fund was established in April 2016 to support the acquisition, remediation and de-risking of further suitable land for starter home developments. Some 71 sites across the country have already received investments, including land at: Plymouth, Bury, Basildon, Stockport, Bridgwater, Cinderford, Minehead, Bristol, Trafford, Isle of Wight, South Ribble and Swindon.
The 30 Starter Home Land Fund partnerships are:
- Blackburn with Darwen Council
- Blackpool Council
- Bristol City Council
- Central Bedfordshire Council
- Cheshire West and Chester Council
- Chesterfield Borough Council
- Chichester District Council
- City of Lincoln
- Ebbsfleet Development Corporation
- Fareham Borough Council
- Gloucester City Council
- Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan)
- Lincolnshire County Council
- Liverpool City Council (in association with Sefton, Knowsley, Halton, Wirral, St Helens)
- Luton Borough Council
- Mid Sussex District Council
- Middlesbrough Council
- North Somerset Council
- Northumberland County Council
- Pendle Borough Council
- Plymouth City Council
- Rotherham Metropolitan Council
- Rushmoor Borough Council
- Sheffield City Council
- South Kestevan District Council
- South Ribble Borough Council (in association with Preston City Council and Lancashire County Council)
- South Somerset District Council
- Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- West Somerset Council (in association with Taunton Deane Borough Council, Sedgemoor District Council)
- Worthing Council
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