Debate contribution: First-time Buyers: Support

Debate contribution by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on 3 February 2025.

MLA

Mrs Ciara Ferguson

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

3 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

First-time Buyers: Support

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4774605

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Whilst we all agree on the need to provide meaningful support to first-time buyers, given some of the challenges that they face, with ever-increasing house prices and rental costs, I urge huge caution over any attempt to propose the roll-out of equity based, help-to-buy schemes as a solution for first-time buyers. I am sure that Members here have reviewed the extensive body of research that shows that, instead of improving affordability, such a policy has the opposite effect. One has only to look at a number of the pieces of research from the London School of Economics (LSE) that use evidence from the British help-to-buy model on the economic impacts of the mortgage credit expansion policy to see that its roll-out contributes to rising house prices. The findings are very stark. The policy does little to help young, lower-income households. It is baffling, therefore, that it has been pursued for so long and is being advocated again here today in the face of such incontestable evidence that it does not work. Let us be very clear across the House today: we absolutely need to help prospective first-time buyers. Far too many are struggling to save for substantial deposits whilst living in family spare bedrooms or in the social or ever-increasingly unaffordable private rented sectors. They dream of having a foot on the property ladder and of having an increased sense of stability, security and freedom. However, we categorically should not advocate a policy that has been found to push up house prices, saddle working people with unsustainable, unaffordable debt, thereby locking the next generation further out of homeownership. The policy is the antithesis of those stated objectives. Inflationary demand-side subsidies have benefited some but not those who need help the most. They have been to the benefit of developers and landowners, not new buyers. Any progressive policy solution should be focused on the delivery of never-before-seen levels of social and affordable housing. Additional work to develop initiatives on stricter use-it-or-lose-it policies to tackle speculation and land hoarding, rent regulation, investment in infrastructure and better prioritising homeless prevention are just some ideas that have actual merit. It is about data-driven policymaking. The past three decades have seen house prices significantly outstrip income growth, which has further expanded wealth inequality. That has contributed to falling homeownership rates for young people. A presentation from PropertyPal's Jordan Buchanan starkly put it in context by stating that, if other items had grown at the rate of house prices since the 1970s, a loaf of bread would now cost £5. People should not be facing inequality of access to a place that they can call home. The current unjust situation, in which homeownership probability in the short-to-medium term is reliant on having some form of family support or a huge income, cannot be allowed to continue. The fact is that, since 1990, an average of just 900 social homes have been delivered here per annum, which is approximately three homes per 1,000 in the population, versus five to six per 1,000 in previous decades. What is left runs the risk of being lost at significant discounts, comparative to what it would take to replace. Recent labour market success has not been reflected in significant pay growth. If wages cannot keep pace with inflation, house prices, the cost of childcare and average rents, it is little wonder that our social housing waiting list stood, as of September 2024, at over 48,000 households. Many first-time buyers are forking out a minimum of £30,000-plus deposits over a 30-year term, borrowing more for longer to try to keep payments manageable. The average age of a first-time buyer has risen from 30 in 2008 to 33. Instead of policies that service the financialisation of the housing agenda, we must deliver affordable, sustainable and decent homes in which people can live. We must not compromise the current generation's prospects or those of future ones. Homes are the foundations for life. They should help, not hinder, economic security, health and well-being.

672 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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