In a move away from its focus on the rental market,  Labour has now promised a a 10% to 40% discount on properties, depending on the cost of property in particular areas,  and a two-year Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers.

John Healey, the party’s housing spokesperson, said: “Our first Labour housing priority will be help for young first-time buyers.
“Under the Conservatives, since 2010, homeownership has fallen by 200,000 with younger families on ordinary incomes the hardest hit.
“After seven years of failure, a Labour government will shift the housing market decisively towards first-time buyers on ordinary incomes.”
Healey also promised to build 100,000 affordable homes a year by 2022, including a large scale council house building programme. Of the latter, Healey said
the “vast majority” would be at social rent levels, which is roughly half the cost of the “affordable rent” level to be used by the Conservatives.
He also pledged reform for private renters, including three-year tenancies with an inflation cap on rent rises and new minimum property standards.

The Conservatives warned that such policies would ‘crash the economy’.