After much intense speculation, extremely close opinion polls and feverish campaigning, the results of the general election are in.
Compilers of opinion polls were left looking rather sheepish as the Conservatives gained enough support for a shock majority victory. With high-profile political casualties already confirmed, what will another five-years of David Cameron in office mean for the UK’s housing market?
We already know that the Tories plan to extend their Right to Buy scheme into housing association properties. It is thought that this will apply to an additional 1.3 million families.
Additionally, there are plans to introduce a Help to Buy ISA to assist more first-time buyers to get onto the primary step of the property ladder. The government will give deposit savers £50 for every £250 saved in a Help to Buy ISA, up to a maximum of £3,000.
The Conservatives have also pledged to build 200,000 new properties specifically for first-time buyers under the age of 40%, with a subsidised discount of 20%. There is also a promise for a £1bn brownfield regeneration scheme to create sites for an additional 400,000 houses.
Without the need to appease any coalition partners within Government, it is likely that the Tories will implicate further changes to both welfare reform and housing support during the duration of their next five years in office. This said, the shock result has been widely welcomed within the housing sector. Many private landlords were openly concerned by Labour’s proposals to change tenancy laws and introduce rent capping. Many others were concerned about the introduction of a mansion tax to fund new housing.
Despite the result being received favourably across much of the property market, there remain a number of problems to address for the new Government. Demand far outstripping supply of homes, spiralling rents and thousands of unoccupied properties are just a few of the issues Mr Cameron will have to address. How successfully he does this will go a long way to defining his second, post-coalition term.