Sir Kier Starmer has just unveiled the long-awaited Labour manifesto outlining the key policies for a future government.

Labour says it wants to increase taxes by £8.6bn by launching raids on overseas property investors, private schools and non-doms.

When it comes to housing, the party has pledged a major shake up of the industry with a view to helping more first-time buyers gain a foot on the housing ladder.

The party wants to develop 1.5 million homes, including the “biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation” by utilising “poor quality” green belt land.

Labour has set a home ownership target of 70%, which will be supported in part by the launch a new mortgage guarantee scheme, enabling buyers to purchase new build property with a 5% deposit.

It will also press ahead with the Renters (Reform) Bill, including the scrapping of Section 21 evictions.

The 125-page manifesto also confirmed the Labour party will take “decisive action” to improve building safety through new regulation.

Meanwhile, it promised to review how to better protect leaseholders, who do not own the land they live on and can be stung with sky-high service charges and ground rent.

In addition, they also said the party would tackle unregulated and “unaffordable” ground rent charges as well as “unfair” maintenance costs.

Industry response:

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property commentator, said: ‘We welcome policies and innovations which are trying to help more first-time buyers onto the ladder. Housebuilding needs to be accelerated, and creating a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme would at least give first-time buyers the certainty that the option will be there. However, we know from our own research that policies like the mortgage guarantee scheme have limitations, and are only able to help a very small pool of future first time buyers that fit specific requirements. One of the biggest barriers for first time buyers is being able to borrow enough from a lender, which a mortgage guarantee scheme doesn’t address.”

He added: “The next government has an opportunity to improve some fundamental aspects of the housing market. The process of buying and selling a home needs to be sped up and simplified – it is currently taking seven months on average from coming to market, to completing a home purchase which is painfully slow.

“There needs to be long-term solutions to help more first-time buyers, which take into account any wider effects on the market. The average first-time buyer property has gone up by 19% since the last election year of 2019. Meanwhile, advertised rents for similar properties are up by 39%, and many are renting for longer. The imbalance between supply and demand has significantly worsened since 2019.

“There needs to be more support for quicker and quality housebuilding, to alleviate some of the supply and demand pressures.  If the next government can create smoother planning processes to transform the delivery of new homes and produce more affordable housing, it could also help downsizers move to greener homes with lower running costs.”

Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, commented: “Pledges to reform the planning system, commit to a brownfield-first approach, making the private rental sector more energy efficient, and a commitment to build 1.5 million new homes over the next parliamentary term are more than welcome. The planning process can be a huge obstacle in keeping pace with demand and change is desperately needed in order to serve an ever-growing population. Many buyers have had a tough time since the 2008 recession, and it is vital any future strategy includes a sustainable mix of affordable housing options for both buyers and renters.

“Propertymark would like to see more details from Labour about how they plan to meet their housing goals and ensure this is there is a firm and fair set of policies in place to serve all demographics.

“Any aspiration to reintroduce the Renters (Reform) Bill must come with full disclosure and a realistic timeline regarding the required court reform before the removal of Section 21 evictions should ever become a reality.”

William Nichols, regional director of Lanpro, commented: “Labour’s manifesto has set out some bold steps for how it aims to ‘kickstart economic growth’, promising to ‘transfer power out of Westminster’ by deepening devolution settlements for existing combined authorities while reviewing the governance arrangements for combined authorities to unblock decision making. It aims to ‘get Britain building again, by delivering jobs and 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament. It aims to ‘deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation

“An important change that will be welcomed by the development industry is to immediately update the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) including the restoration or mandatory housing targets, and it has also said it will take tough action to ensure planning authorities have up-to-date Local Plans as well as strengthening the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’; how this works in practice remains to be seen. Labour is committed to funding additional planning officers and resourcing planning departments with the staff they need.

“While Labour will continue to take a ‘brownfield first approach’, another welcome intervention is Labour’s commitment to take a more strategic approach to green belt designation while prioritising release lower quality ‘grey belt’ land alongside the creation of a set of ‘golden rules’ to ensure development benefits communities and nature.”

William Trotman, Real Estate Finance Partner at BCLP, remarked: “We are currently seeing a structural shift in capital deployment to the real economy, particularly in commercial real estate but similarly across other sectors of the credit and lending market. ‘Private credit’ provided by alternative (non-bank) lenders has become increasingly established since the global financial crisis (GFC) as a key source of funding across the capital spectrum. As their market share continues to grow, alternative lenders are now recognised – alongside banks – as “mainstream” providers of capital, leaving the “shadow banking” moniker firmly behind them.

“With the political agenda firmly focused on economic growth, we do not see the upcoming UK General Election impacting either the pace or the direction of this shift. Rather, we see the growth in private credit continuing to accelerate, with banks widening their product pool by increasingly positioning themselves as a key provider of senior capital to alternative lenders – either directly, or as intermediaries to a wider, deeper pool of institutional investor capital.”

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