RICS: Government first-time buyer offer

Commenting on the Government's announcement to encourage first-time buyers to participate in affordable housing schemes, James Rowlands, RICS public policy officer said: "Shared ownership schemes are not a “silver bullet” for affordability issues and will only ever be a small part of a wider package of measures. The low numbers involved in shared ownership schemes mean their impact on the housing market will be severely limited. To increase affordability more widely, the Government must take action to boost house building levels by ensuring more land becomes available for development, empty homes are brought back into use and more family homes are built."