Labour to crack down on foreign buyers of Britain’s homes

Keir Starmer would impose new restrictions on overseas investors and give ‘first dibs’ to first-time buyers

Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves at a housing development in Milton Keynes (PA)

A Labour government would impose new restrictions on foreign buyers of property in the UK as part of a push to help more young Britons on to the property ladder.

Keir Starmer’s party would raise stamp duty on overseas buyers and stop them snapping up more than 50 per cent of homes on any new development.

The party would also give Britain’s first-time buyers “first dibs” on new build homes for a certain period of time to stop so many being purchased by foreign investors.

Labour officials confirmed to The Independent that they were planning new rules so Generation Rent would have a window – six months, for example – where only they would be able to buy on a new development.

But it would be left to individual councils would hammer out with developers exactly how long the window would last, and whether it would begin before or after housing projects are complete.

Labour has also vowed to increase the surcharge on stamp duty paid by overseas buyers, currently at two per cent. The plans, initially set out at party conferences in 2021 and 2022, are expected to get the green light when election manifesto policies are decided this summer.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ruled out the idea of higher property taxes on foreign investors, whether stamp duty or council tax, over fears it could freeze the market.

Overseas ownership of homes in England and Wales has almost trebled from 88,000 in 2010 to around 250,000 in 2021, according to the Centre for Public Data.

The National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) has called on Mr Hunt to increase stamp duty on overseas buyers – arguing it would “generate revenue and help level the field for local buyers”.

Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner visit a housing development in South Ribble in Lancashire (PA)

However, Stewart Baseley, executive chair of the Homebuilders Federation, warned: “While prioritising UK buyers is key, some large-scale developments require upfront funding that [overseas] investor buyers can provide.”

It comes as Rishi Sunak comes under growing pressure from some senior Tories to change course on policy after Thursday’s local election drubbing – with fresh calls to help young people on to the property ladder.

Former cabinet minister Simon Clarke said the PM had made a “major mistake” in dropping national house-building targets, claiming it had damaged the Tory chances in the local elections.

“I would say that dropping those targets was a major mistake,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday – arguing the Tories should not try to compete with the Lib Dems on “not in my backyard” anti-development campaigns.

“If you look at the very serious results in huge swathes of the south where the Lib Dems and Greens have run absolutely amok on an explicitly nimby platform,” said Mr Clarke. “We cannot out-nimby them.”

The former levelling up secretary added: “So we should be making the opposite case and appealing to people who are frankly long-sighted enough to see that this is only going to benefit existing homeowners… it’s not rewarding us in the south-east – it’s hurting us.”