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With a general election on the horizon we know that a lot of people are feeling hesitant about whether now is the right time to put their property on the market. We completely understand this hesitancy as we are also uncertain about what the future holds. 

To help tackle some of these concerns, we thought we would have a look at what the main political parties are offering in their manifestos when it comes to the UK housing market. 


2024 General Election Manifesto Pledges

We have had a close look at all of the main political party’s election pledges and have summarised their main priorities for the UK housing market. As you will see, nearly every party agrees that we need to build more housing, but they vary in how much detail they give as to how these plans will be achieved. 


The Conservative Party

  • Aim to deliver 1.6 million homes in England over the next Parliament

  • Plan to fast track housing developments built on brownfield land in urban areas within the 20 largest cities

  • Plan to renew the Affordable Homes Programme

  • Will permanently increase the rate at which first time buyers pay stamp duty from £300,000 to £425,000

  • Will launch a new and improved Help to Buy Scheme

  • Will complete the process of Leasehold Reform

  • Will create a dedicated task force in Homes England to deliver on their mission to invest in regeneration and to build high quality homes

 

The Labour Party

  • Plan to build 1.5 million homes over the next 5 years and will immediately update the National Policy Planning Framework to restore mandatory housing targets 

  • Will prioritise the building of new social and rented homes and better protect existing housing stock 

  • Will prioritise developments on brownfield sites; introduce a new grey belt and ensure the green belt is protected

  • Will ensure homes in the private rental sector meet minimum energy standards by 2030

  • Will introduce a Freedom to Buy Scheme to help people secure a mortgage 



The Liberal Democrats

  • Plan to build 380,000 new homes each year, including 150,000 new social homes

  • Will immediately ban no-fault evictions; create a national register of licenced landlords and introduce three year tenancies 

  • Will give local authorities the powers to end Right to Buy in their areas

  • Will abolish residential leaseholds and cap ground rents to a nominal fee

  • Will expand Neighbourhood Planning across England and build 10 new garden cities

  • Will encourage the development of existing brownfield sites with financial incentives to ensure that affordable and social housing is included

  • Will introduce a new Rent to Own model for social housing

 

The Green Party

  • Will provide 150,000 new homes for social housing through a combination of new builds and the purchase or refurbishment of older housing stock

  • Will end ‘right to buy’, to keep social homes for local communities in perpetuity

  • Will ensure that all new homes meet Passivhaus or equivalent standards and house builders include solar panels and heat pumps on all new homes, where appropriate

  • Plan to introduce rent controls so that local authorities can control the rental market if it starts to become unaffordable for local people

  • Will introduce a new stable tenancy and end no fault evictions

  • Will introduce private rental tenancy boards to help resolve disputes without tribunals 



Reform UK

  • Plan to reform the housing system and fast track new housing on brownfield sites 

  • Will reform social housing law to ensure local people are prioritised

  • Will scrap Section 24 to encourage smaller landlords into the rental market

  • Will abolish the Renters Reform Bill

  • Will enforce Section 106 agreements to ensure it is easier and cheaper to extend leaseholds to 990 years and buy freeholds

  • Will use new technologies to speed up house building, improve efficiency and cut waste 



What Does Affordable Housing Look Like? 

Whilst nearly every party has set out clear targets for the numbers of new houses they would like to build, new build properties are more expensive to buy than those on the resell market. If some of these new properties are to be sold as “affordable housing” then we would like to know more details on how this will be achieved. Will developers need to sell a certain amount of properties at an affordable price and if so, who will decide what an affordable price is? As property prices vary so much across the UK, there will need to be different definitions or levels of affordability put in place.

In our opinion, what the UK really needs to solve the current housing crisis, is to build more social housing. There are huge swathes of people who are really struggling to pay their rents and are incredibly vulnerable to ending up homeless. By building more social housing, which cannot easily be sold off, local authorities will be protecting the most vulnerable households in their area.


The Rental Market in 2024 

We are pleased to see that nearly all parties (with the exception of Reform UK) agree that the rental market needs to be reformed. However we are concerned that some of the policies being put forward will not help to encourage more landlords to enter the market. Whichever party forms the next government, they need to make sure they do more for landlords so that over the next few years we see more good quality rental stock become available rather than less. 

 

Will Mortgage Interest Rates Come Down in 2024?

One common question we are being asked a lot is whether mortgage interest rates will decrease at any time in the near future. Due to the dissolution of parliament, the Bank of England is unable to change interest rates within the next few weeks. We also do not expect much to change within the next 6 months of 2024 either. However, now that inflation has started to come down, we do think that rates will eventually come down to a more manageable level.

 

Our Final Thoughts

Whilst the current situation leading up to the General Election has left a lot of people feeling uncertain about the housing market, we believe that this will be temporary. We have been encouraged by the results of a recent survey conducted by RightMove which found that 95% of people planning to move home say the upcoming election will not affect their plans.

As soon as a new government has been elected, we believe that the housing market will continue as normal. We expect the market to remain stable for the foreseeable future and believe the overall outlook is positive. 

If you have any questions, then please get in touch with our team by giving us a call on 01952 632140

For a more in depth discussion about the upcoming General Election, listen to our latest podcast on the Foden Property YouTube channel.