Some 30 areas across England are to receive funding from the £ 1.2bn “ Starter Homes Land Fund ” for new developments on brownfield sites . Buyers must be aged between 23 and 40 and will receive a discount of at least 20 % below market value . The Starter Homes Land Fund was first announced by the coalition government in 2014 and aims to help more people buy a home . The discounts will apply to properties worth up to £ 250,000 outside London , or £ 450,000 in the capital . Housing minister Gavin Barwell said : “ This government is committed to building starter homes to help young first-time buyers get on the housing ladder .” Commenting on the announcement , LSE housing professor Christine Whitehead said : “ This first wave of partnerships shows

the strong local interest to build thousands of starter homes on hundreds of brownfield sites in the coming years . One in three councils has expressed an interest to work with us so far .” The first 30 local authorities were chosen on the basis of their ability to build the properties quickly enough . They include Blackpool Council , Bristol City Council , Sheffield City Council and Luton Borough Council . The properties are expected to go on sale in 2018 . But speaking to the BBC , Christine Whitehead , emeritus professor in housing economics at the London School of Economics , said the “ timescale is much too short , it ’ s not that easy to build on land that quickly , and we are anyway short on skills ”. John Healey , Labour ’ s shadow housing secretary , said : “ These socalled starter homes are a symbol of the Conservative record on housing .

“ Ministers launched them in 2014 but will only start to build the first in 2017 , promised they ’ d be affordable for young people - when they ’ ll cost up to £ 450,000 , and pledged to build 200,000 by 2020 but no-one now believes that ’ s possible .” Prof Whitehead said that , even with government help , some young people were not in a strong enough financial position to participate in the scheme : “ They often haven ’ t got very strong jobs , they ’ re insecure about their future , they ’ re paying high prices in the rental market and therefore can ’ t afford the deposit .” This was the government ’ s second announcement in the same week on measures to tackle the UK ’ s housing shortage . Initially , it revealed proposals for England ’ s first garden villages on 14 sites spread across the country from Cornwall to Cumbria . It said the

new developments could provide 48,000 homes . In addition , it said three new garden towns would be built at Aylesbury , Taunton and Harlow & Gilston , in addition to seven already in the pipeline . The Federation of Master Buildings ( FMB ) welcomed the news but warned that greater challenges lie ahead if we are to solve our housing crisis . Brian Berry , chief executive of the FMB , said : “ It ’ s great to see the Housing Minister kick off 2017 by giving the green light to the first Starter Homes . These homes will help some first time buyers get a foot on the housing ladder , and our small house builders are enthusiastic about delivering on that vision , but starter homes will not be a panacea . A wider set of measures aimed at increasing the capacity of the house building industry are needed to overturn the long-term

under-supply of new homes . Central to this must be getting small and medium-sized ( SME ) builders delivering more new homes . For instance , the announcement of 14 ‘ garden villages ’ and more garden towns needs to be backed up by implementation plans which provide opportunities to SME builders as well as the large companies .” He concluded : “ These are positive messages to start the year with and they show that the government is putting house building at the front and centre of its ambitions for 2017 . With a Housing White Paper expected soon this will be an important year for housing policy and its success or failure will be a key part of the new PM ’ s legacy .” The government is due to publish its White Paper on housing supply in which it will set out its plans for building new homes .