Labour vows to make low-deposit mortgage scheme permanent

“There are two main barriers to home ownership: firstly, the deposit, and secondly, affording the repayments,” stressed Rob Houghton, founder and chief executive of reallymoving. “The problem with this scheme is it solves one but exacerbates the other, because buying with a 5% deposit leaves you with a 95% mortgage to service at today’s higher rates.

“Low deposit mortgages are a small part of the solution, and they will be useful to a proportion of first-time buyers in locations such as the Midlands and the North where house prices are lower, but if Labour plan to put home ownership front and centre, they’re going to need to come up with more than this.”

Labour’s plans, unveiled on Thursday evening, also include reintroducing housing targets, expediting planning permissions on brownfield land, and prioritising “grey belt” developments. The party claims these initiatives could lead to the construction of 1.5 million homes.

Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and former RICS residential chairman, welcomed the announcement, noting its potential benefits for first-time buyers and the housing supply.

“But for us, just as important is the ambition to increase housing supply and ease the planning system,” Leaf said. “Sadly, we have heard similar announcements from both main political parties in the past where the end result doesn’t match the rhetoric.