CELG(4) Hsg 01
Clerk to CELG
Committee,
I am a would-be first time buyer living in the Cardiff area with my
fiancé. We currently live in privately rented
accommodation and have been doing so for the past 2 years. We
have researched the home ownership market and have found that first
time buyers such as ourselves need to have a large deposit in order
to purchase a house, this typically stands at 20-25% of the house
value. Alternatively there have been government schemes such
as Jumpstart that offer a smaller deposit upfront in a shared
equity arrangement where the buyer has 10 years to pay the 15% of
shared equity. However, this scheme and ones similar are only
available on a selected number of houses on new
developments.
I welcome
government initiatives such as right to buy and right to acquire,
as they encourage homeownership and consequently help families to
settle in a stable environment. However, this scheme isn't
open to myself and partner as we don't qualify for the essential
criteria.
As demand for rental properties is increasing at present so is the
market value of renting privately, this has created a perfect storm
for myself and people in similar positions as it is becoming more
and more difficult to raise the capital needed for a house deposit
all the while housing developers and financial institutions are
demanding higher deposits thus limiting affordability. The
situation is exacerbated by the current economic environment of
high inflation and low employment prospects decreasing household
buying power.
I believe both central and local governments should be doing more
to tackle the issues mentioned by working with financial
institutions and housing developers whose priority at the moment is
to sure up balance sheets rather than lend or invest in first time
buyers. There needs to be a vision, determination and clear
recommendations by the CELG committee that cater for a wide variety
of needs in society.
I look forward to appropriate recommendations and policy on this
matter.