Labour is under renewed pressure to help first-time buyers (FTBs) as temporary Stamp Duty relief ends this month.

The boss of one of the biggest developers warns the Government will fail to hit its target of building 1.5 million homes in five years.

Dean Finch (main image), Group Chief Executive at Persimmon, says that it will soon be the first time in 60 years that there has been no financial incentive for FTBs.

“If they’re really serious about this, then they’ve got to look at tackling the demand side of the market as well,” he says.

First time buyers

He wants to see banks and building societies offering shared equity loans alongside mortgages to help buyers raise a deposit, which he says is “the biggest obstacle to people getting on the housing ladder”, The Times reports.

The ‘nil rate’ threshold for FTBs will go down from £425,000 to £300,000 in April.

The number of people stepping onto the property ladder increased to 341,000 last year, up 19% compared to the previous 12 months as many sought to complete before the Stamp Duty change on 1 April.

Fall-through

But there was a warning that a significant number of property deals were set to fall through as thousands of first-time and other buyers fail to complete before the deadline.

More than 120,000 buyers face the Stamp Duty hike as a third of the total with offers accepted will fail to complete in time, according to TwentyCi data analysed by Hamptons.