jenrick housing minister

The government hopes its new ‘Help to Build’ initiative, supported by more ‘£150m new funding’, will make it easier and more affordable for people to build their own homes, the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced over the weekend.

The scheme is designed to ensure self and custom home building can become a realistic option to get onto the housing ladder through lower deposit mortgages.

Lowering the required deposit will free up capital, so people can build the home that they want and need whether it’s a commissioned, made-to-order home, or a new design from scratch. The scheme will provide an equity loan on the completed home, similar to the Help to Buy scheme.

Housing Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, speaking on Saturday, said: “Building your own home shouldn’t be the preserve of a small number of people, but a mainstream, realistic and affordable option for people across the country. That’s why we are making it easier and more affordable – backed by over £150m new funding from the government.

“The scheme we have launched today will help the thousands of people who’d like to build their own home but who’ve not yet considered it or previously ruled it out.

“Our plans will help get more people on to the housing ladder, ensure homes suit people’s needs like home working or caring for relatives, whilst providing an important boost to small builders and businesses too.”

The government believes Self and custom build could deliver 30-40,000 new homes a year and it has commissioned Richard Bacon MP to lead a review on how the delivery of self and custom build homes can be scaled up. The review will report its findings and recommendations in the summer.

The scheme is part of the government’s wider Plan for Jobs as the new plans should also benefit small building firms. SME builders account for 1 in 10 new homes.

This follows the news that major lenders have signed up to the government’s new 95% mortgage guarantee scheme to help more people than ever on to the housing ladder. Lloyds, Santander, Barclays, HSBC and Natwest are launching mortgages under the scheme today with Virgin Money following next month.