Richard Beresford, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), has described as “bad news for the UK’s housing market” the government’s admission that it had not built a single starter home despite a promise made four years ago to put up 200,000 by next year. 

Responding to comments made by the housing minister Kit Malthouse that no starter homes had been built since the Tories committed in 2015 to building 200,000 such units by 2020 exclusively for first-time buyers at a 20% discount on their market value, Beresford said the programme could have delivered some planning certainty, since it would have added work to local pipelines.

“But Malthouse’s admission explains why developers were not sure how they could get involved with starter homes. It exposes the poor level of trust between ministers and SME housebuilders.”