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On average, first time buyers spend over 7 years renting and pay £42,000 in rent before getting their first mortgage. They must save an extra £30,000 for a typical 20% deposit on a £150,000 first house.

Many people on lower incomes can’t afford such sums, but they could still pay £600,000 rent over a lifetime of private renting, with little to show for it in the end. They are trapped in a vicious circle: they need a deposit to buy a house, but high rents make it difficult to save. Prices and rents are high due to a shortage of houses.

The Tory / Lib Dem government let developers "land bank" sites with planning consent, rather than building the houses people need. Labour will tackle the underlying problem - forcing developers to build quickly where they already have planning consent.

We need more houses every year just to cope with new families and rising demand. Labour will unlock the land supply and build 200,000 new homes a year by 2020.

Last updated 4 April 2015 at 23:22. Back to the top

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Promoted by John Illingworth, 37 Kirkwood Way, Leeds LS16 7EU