Most first-time buyers wish that houses were cheaper — and soon they could be. The government has begun consulting on plans for a First Homes scheme to sell new-build homes to first-time buyers with at least a 30 per cent discount from the market value.
The concept of helping first-time buyers on to the ladder isn’t new: shared ownership schemes and the government’s Help to Buy equity loans have been available for years. Help to Buy has been criticised for inflating the price of new-builds as developers take advantage of the fact that buyers get a 25 per cent loan interest-free for five years from the government.
This may be why the government is proposing a new version of the little-known Discounted Market Sales (DMS)