6 November 2012 | By Gavriel Hollander | Inside Housing

A London borough with some of the highest property values in the country will use its own land to build hundreds of new low-cost homes.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council will build at least 200 homes over the next five years through a joint venture with a private sector developer. The council is also planning an additional 300 homes through its own housing company.

The joint venture with the as-yet unidentified partners will run for an initial 15 years. Through the land release structure, Hammersmith & Fulham will retain a stake in the properties and make a profit in excess of what it would receive by selling off land.

The proceeds will be ploughed back into similar schemes, estate improvements and reducing the council’s £200 million of housing debt.

It is intended that the scheme will help residents on low and middle incomes to get a foot on to the property ladder. Hammersmith & Fulham has the fourth highest property prices in the country, with the average home costing £581,000, compared to a UK average of £162,000.

‘We’ve got the fourth highest property prices and thousands of local people who want low cost homeownership,’ said Andrew Johnson, the cabinet member for housing at Hammersmith & Fulham. ‘Yet at the moment low cost homes to buy in this borough are like gold dust.

‘We are determined to change that by creating a borough of housing opportunity whereby hard-working local residents, on modest and middle incomes, can fulfil their housing aspirations and buy a local home for a reasonable price.

‘Local authorities have a key role to play in unlocking new housing growth, so we’re maximising our housing land estates to provide much needed new homes and generate cash to invest in our existing stock.’

 

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