Almost nine in ten East Midlands families cannot afford to buy new-build homes because the sector is ‘rigged’, a housing charity claims.
A new report from Shelter, the housing and homelessness group, claims 87 per cent of families in the region cannot afford to buy an average-priced new home, even with help from the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.
It used Government pricing figures and a survey of family budgets to calculate the figure.
Graeme Brown, Shelter’s interim chief executive, said: “Big developers and land traders are making millions from a rigged system while families struggle with huge renting costs and have to give up on owning a home of their own, which has become nothing more than a pipe dream.
“For decades we’ve relied on this broken system and, despite the sweeteners offered to developers to build the homes we need, it simply hasn’t worked.
“The current way of building homes has had its day and it has failed the nation.
“The only way to fix our ever-growing housing crisis is for the government to champion a bold new approach which responds to communities to build the genuinely affordable, beautiful homes they want – as we have done as a country in the past.
“Until this happens, millions of ordinary families across the country will continue to pay the price.”
Shelter also claims new build homes are poor in quality, saying research they have conducted with YouGov more than half of new home owners in England (51 per cent) claiming to have experienced major problems with their properties.
These have ranged from its construction, unfinished fittings and faults with utilities.
The Government has said it will commit more than £25 billion on housing during the Spending Review, the five year overhaul of the Government’s spending plans.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “This government has got the country building again with the highest number of housing starts for nearly a decade.
“But we agree with Shelter that the housing market in this country is broken, which is why last month, in a Housing White Paper, this government set out bold and lasting reforms to fix it.
“Our reforms will help build more affordable homes, more quickly, for those currently locked out of the market.”
Developers said the country’s supply of new homes is increasing, but the Home Builders Federation added “much more needs to be done”.
A spokesman for the federation added: “The industry is committed to delivering further increases in supply and more of all types and sizes of homes such that we can better match supply to demand.
“Overwhelmingly the buyers of new homes are happy with their purchase with over 90 per cent saying they would buy new again.
“New homes are built to exacting standards and buyers are protected by a builder guarantee and 10-year warranty and have recourse to a consumer code that provides an independent resolution service in the small percentage of cases such measures are required.”
