Government announces first phase of discounted Starter Home sites

The government has begun 2017 with a couple of major announcements, the latest of which is the first phase of sites for affordable new build properties under its Starter Home initiative.

Work will start this year on the homes, which are aimed at first-time buyers between 23- and 40-years-old and which will be sold to them at at least 20% less than open-market value.

The first phase of 30 sites across England, from Northumberland to the south coast, will see new homes constructed on brownfield sites as part of the £1.2bn scheme known as the Starter Home Land Fund. Work will commence this year, with thousands of properties to be completed during this parliament, by 2020..

Housing minister Gavin Barwell says: “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 scheme works by reducing development costs for housebuilders that should then be passed on to homebuyers, and will then be passed on to the next buyers when the first upgrade to another home.

The 30 Starter Home Land Fund partnerships for this first phase of the scheme are with the following local authorities:

• 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