GIVING more Islanders access to an assisted-purchase support scheme will not create more first-time buyers unless the number of properties released through the initiative is increased, according to a former Housing Minister.
Deputy Sam Mézec has criticised a decision by Housing Minister David Warr to raise household income thresholds for his Assisted Purchase Home Ownership policy – which means more people can now qualify for the Andium Homebuy scheme.
Andium Homebuy enables buyers to purchase a home with a deferred payment of up to 25% of the market value.
Deputy Warr changed the eligibility criteria so that the household income limits now range from £65,000 per year for those seeking a one-bedroom flat, to £135,000 per year for a four-bedroom house.
The previous income limits went from £45,000 to £90,000 respectively.
However, Deputy Mézec, the leader of the Reform Party who represents St Helier South, said the move ‘will not result in a single extra person or couple becoming first-time buyers’.
He added: ‘All it will do is add more people to the waiting list to be in line for one of the 60 homes sold through this scheme every year.
‘So nobody will become a first-time buyer who otherwise wouldn’t have as a result of this scheme – it is the exact same number.
‘The Homebuy scheme is extremely popular, and for the people who get to benefit from it, they give wonderful feedback and are very pleased at what they get through it – but it is a very small number of people a year who are helped by it.’
He added that ‘the only way’ the number would increase was the creation of more affordable housing.
An Andium spokesperson confirmed that the provider released 60 homes a year from its existing portfolio for sale to first-time buyers.
‘We must sell these in order to make our £29 million annual return to the Government of Jersey.
‘This isn’t the complete picture though. We also have our target to deliver 3,000 new homes by 2030 and 1,000 of those will be for first-time buyers.
This is in addition to the sites which have been rezoned as part of the Bridging Island Plan and those sites will require 55% of the homes to be built for first-time buyers,’ they added.
Deputy Warr said he was ‘100%’ open to considering an increase in the number of first-time buyer homes released through the scheme each year.
‘We just need to be very careful with it in terms of keeping a balance,’ he added.
‘I am asking Andium to give me an exact breakdown for the waiting list [for the scheme] but as far as they are concerned the changes are useful, because more people who may not have been able to access the scheme before can do so.’
