Boris Johnson’s Election Property ‘Promises’

Having secured the Conservatives a ‘stonking’ 80 seat majority on Friday and having spent the weekend showing his gratitude to his new northern supporters, Boris Johnson’s attention can now shift to delivering on the promises of his manifesto.

Aside from Brexit, there are the headline-grabbing, 40 new hospitals, 20,000 new police officers and 50,000 new nurses there are a number of interesting ones that aim to give the malaised property market a shot in the arm.

Long Term Fixed Mortgage Rates

One of the most ambitious proposals is to offer first-time buyers fixed-term mortgage products that would run for 25 years. These are already seen in the States and Germany but the Government would both have to convince lenders to offer these deals but to also strip away exit penalties common with existing 5 or 10-year options.

Extend Help to Buy

Equity loans under this scheme are due to end in 2021 but this is likely to be extended to 2023. Going hand in hand with this is the current Shared Ownership scheme which has been promised to be simplified.

Renters

Raising and moving deposits between rental properties cause a lot of financial stress to tenants, often on low incomes so a life-time deposit has been muted as a possible solution that would be taken between homes.

There is also a continuation of the Right to Buy scheme for Council properties.

Stamp Duty (SDLT)

During his campaign, Boris also promised to raise the threshold at which SDLT is paid from £125,000 to £500,000 along with lowering the top 12% rate. There is also the possibility for the removal of additional SDLT on second homes.