Redfern calls for cross-party solution to housing crisis

The long-awaited Redfern Review blames the financial squeeze on young people for a fall in UK home ownership and advocates a cross-party political group to increase housebuilding. The review calls for a change in attitude towards supply, regardless of short-term politics, with a long-term plan and principles agreed by all main political parties alongside the establishment of an independent housing commission. Read the full report here. The review, led by Pete Redfern, chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, was commissioned by shadow secretary of state for housing, John Healey MP. It claims to be the most comprehensive review into home ownership for the last decade. The report lists the main causes of the 6.2% decline in home ownership between 2002 and 2014 as: • the higher cost of and restrictions on mortgage lending for first-time buyers, cutting 3.8% off the UK home ownership rate; • the rapid increase in house prices, reducing ownership by 2.6%; • the decline in incomes of those aged 28-40, reducing ownership by a further 1.4%. It says that, in common with other studies, the effect of new housing supply on prices is minimal in the short term, and that increasing production to 300,000 for one year would reduce prices by only 0.6%. Its suggests instead a longer-term strategy and cross-party and independent support for sustainable policies. The key policy options supporting this strategy are: • refocusing Help to Buy to target first-time buyers and lower price points, extending it beyond 2021; • using starter-homes-only exception sites, with the first-time buyer discount retained in perpetuity; • increased support for programs helping young people save, such as increasing the maximum scale of lifetime ISAs; • extending the one replacement policy for Right to Buy. See also: Labour announces independent home ownership review The 2m home question Help to Buy: an unhealthy over-reliance?: • To send feedback, e-mail alex.peace@estatesgazette.com or tweet @egalexpeace or @estatesgazette