Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the First Homes scheme and if he will make a statement.

First Homes, the Government’s new home ownership initiative, will provide a sustained and ongoing supply of homes sold to first-time buyers and key workers with a discount of at least 30% below market value. In some areas, the discount could be as high as 50%. Crucially, the discount will be passed on each time the property is sold, ensuring local areas continue to benefit for generation to come.

The Government has published two consultations regarding the implementation of First Homes. The first of these was published on 7 February 2020 and closed on 1 May that year, we responded to that consultation on 6 August 2020.

On that same day we published the second consultation, as part of the wider document ‘Changes to the current planning system’. This consultation was technical in nature, exploring specific planning system changes required to implement First Homes. This consultation closed on 1 October and we have been analysing responses. We hope to be able to publish our response and outline next steps very soon.