Sadiq Khan campaign: FTSE-listed housebuilders pledge to reserve London homes for UK-based buyers
Some of the UK’s biggest housebuilders have pledged to restrict the sale of London homes to UK-based buyers following a campaign by Sadiq Khan.
Taylor Wimpey, Barratt London, Berkeley Homes, Redrow and others have offered to restrict sales of homes worth up to £350,000 to UK-based buyers for three months before embarking on any overseas marketing.
Londoners will have exclusivity on low-cost new builds for up to a month within this period.
Read more: Housebuilders remain optimistic about the future
The London mayor has been working to win support from housebuilders on the issue of UK buyers after he conducted research into the role of overseas buyers in the capital’s housing market. The research found that half of the new homes bought by overseas buyers were worth less than £500,000.
Khan said: “I am determined we take meaningful steps to help Londoners buy more new homes they can afford, and the offer from across the housing industry will mean we can move quickly to make this a reality for our city.
“Through the extensive research I commissioned, I was alarmed to discover that overseas buyers were focusing to such an extent on the lower-cost end of new-build homes – many of which were being sold long before Londoners even knew they were available.”
The Centre for Policy Studies has also called for measures to ensure UK-based buyers are able to access new housing stock. Chris Philp, Conservative MP for Croydon South, has proposed ring-fencing half of the homes on any new property development for UK buyers, arguing that young people are being “squeezed out of the market” buy foreign buyers.
Full list of developers participating in the scheme: A2 Dominion, Bellway, Berkeley Homes, Barratt London, Catalyst, Clarion, Countryside, Crest Nicholson, Fairview New Homes,Genesis, Hadley Property Group, Hill, Hyde, Lendlease, Linden Homes (Galliford Try’s housebuilding business), L&Q, Mears New Homes, Metropolitan, Network Homes, Notting Hill Housing, Optivo, Peabody, Redrow, Southern Housing Group, Taylor Wimpey, Telford Homes.