Starter homes to be sold to first-time buyers at 20% discount

The government has announced plans to build thousands of starter homes on brownfield sites across the country.

They will be built exclusively for first-time buyers between 23 and 40 years old and sold at a discount of at least 20% below market value.

The scheme will be run by the Homes and Communities agency in a series of partnerships with local authorities. The first wave of 30 partnerships – selected on the basis of their potential for early delivery – will spearhead schemes over the next 12 months.

These partnerships have been established under the government’s £1.2 billion Starter Homes Land Fund.

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said: “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.

“These new developments will also support the wider growth and regeneration of local areas, including some town centre sites.

“The Starter Homes Land Fund was set up to prepare suitable land for quality starter home developments that 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. This will see up to 15,000 homes started on surplus public sector land this Parliament.”

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