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Discount scheme to help more British families become home owners

Xinhua, March 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

Up to 100,000 young people in Britain have been thrown a lifeline to help them climb onto the property ladder.

A government scheme will give discounts of 20 percent off the price of homes sold to young first-time buyers.

A website launched recently will enable young home seekers to register their interest in buying a home as of Monday.

Around the country, with the average price of a home for a typical first-time buyer standing at 218,000 pounds (about 335,650 U.S. dollars), the discount will be more than 43,000 pounds.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We want to help people who work hard and want to get on in life but have been priced out of the housing market. A 20 percent discount off the price could be a real game-changer for many aspiring home owners."

On Monday, the government brought in new rules cutting planning requirements for new starter homes for first-time buyers, enabling house builders to slash 20 percent off the usual purchase price.

Building on the first discounted homes is expected to start within months.

The initiative is the latest government measure to kick-start more house construction work in Britain.

Changes in planning rules will enable builders to build homes on sites originally earmarked for commercial or industrial use, but now deemed either unusable or surplus for those purposes.

Leading home building companies and town and city councils have already indicated they would consider offering land on which to develop the new homes as from this year.

House builders are now able to submit plans to get work started on cut-price homes.

As well as reducing the prices of housing for young buyers, a design panel, including world class architects, have drawn on designs to illustrate the high quality houses they want to see built. The government hope is the high-level designs will set the benchmark for new homes to be of a high architectural quality.

Government Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: "Anyone who works hard and wants to get on the property ladder should get the help they need to do so."

"This will also form part of our wider efforts to get the country building again, which have already led to 700,000 new homes being delivered since the end of 2009."

To ensure house buyers don't see the scheme as an easy way to make a quick profit, the rules are that if buyers decide to sell within five years, they have to offer the 20 percent discount to the next purchaser. ( 1 pound = 1.54 U.S. dollars) Endit