Shadow Housing Minister vows to boost homeownership

Labour’s new Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning, John Healey (right), has said that halting the decline in homeownership levels in this country is a major priority for the Labour party. Fresh Government data shows that despite the introduction of various housing schemes, such as Help to Buy, the level of homeownership has fallen from 67.4 per cent to 63.3 per cent over the last five years, while the number of families living in the private rented sector has risen by 2.5 million. Research by the Labour Party, based on official Government statistics, suggests that under the Coalition Government there was a 50 per cent decline in the number of young people owning their own property, with just 800,000 people under the age of 34 now owning their own home. This is owed in part to tougher mortgage lending conditions, a lack of house building and high property prices in some parts of the country. Speaking to the press ahead of Labour’s annual conference in Brighton this week, Healey said, “Homeownership has declined each and every year since 2010 and the number of people getting mortgages and buying homes is 10 per cent less than it was in 2010. There…