Decline in Affordable Home Ownership

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published the figures for Affordable Housing Supply in England (2015-16) and it shows that the supply has fallen to the lowest level for 24 years. Of the 32,110 affordable homes build in England, only 3,430 were for affordable home ownership and 22,100 were affordable or social rent. The net additional dwellings for the same period were 189,650 which means that of all the new homes delivered, only 1.81% of them were for affordable home ownership.

As the Redfern Review commissioned by John Healey MP highlights, “increased new supply does not directly improve the home ownership rate”. So it is not the number of homes being build, but the type of homes and their affordability. Fewer people are able to get into home ownership and opting for staying at home or relying on rental models. As families are leaving it later to downsize, there is a greater demand for larger family homes and affordable or social rent homes.

More needs to be done to ensure that sites made available by Councils and other institutions target affordable home ownership. Mix specialises in this market sector and delivers homes where standard mortgage payments can be below either Social or Living rent levels.

References
DCLG Affordable housing supply in England: 2015 to 2016
Redfern Review