Housing shortage hits first-time buyers despite government help
The UK’s chronic housing shortage is forcing first-time buyers to accept lower quality properties.
Natural light was cited as not being vital by 51 per cent of prospective buyers, survey figures released today by estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains show. Additionally, 63 per cent would go without a bath while 11 per cent said a kitchen was not vital.
Adrian Gill, director of estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains, suggests current policies such as help-to-buy are stoking demand instead of solving the supply problem.
“There is only a finite stock of housing on the market, and unfortunately, first-time buyers are the least prepared in the current scramble for property. The lion’s share of new housing policy has been stoking demand, rather than supplementing supply,” Gill said.
Possible solutions could be building on green spaces, adapting green belt boundaries and supporting small builders, Gill said.