Burnham unveils "Your First Home" equity loan as Labour conference opens

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has unveiled a plan to help young people buy their first home, promising a government-backed loan of up to 20% of a new-build property's value for buyers who can put down a deposit of just 2.5%. The "Your First Home" scheme was announced in Liverpool, on the eve of the Labour Party conference — the first major gathering of the party Burnham leads as prime minister. The policy lands at a moment when ministers acknowledge the government is falling short of its own housebuilding targets.

Under the proposal, first-time buyers in England purchasing a newly built property would receive an equity loan covering a fifth of its value, cutting the amount they need to raise themselves. Burnham said the scheme is intended for people without the advantage of the "bank of mum and dad" — the informal help many first-time purchasers rely on when savings are thin. "Too many young people are struggling with the cost of housing, with many giving up hope of ever having a home to call their own," the prime minister said. "So we will step in to help more first-time buyers on to the housing ladder."

The loan would carry an initial interest-free period, though its length and other mechanics have not been finalised; ministers said full details would be set out in next month's Budget. Burnham argued the scheme would also give developers the "confidence to deliver the high-quality new homes the country needs", a reference to the government's ambition to raise construction. Funding is expected to come from reprioritising existing budgets, while housebuilders would contribute towards the running costs of the programme — a design that has drawn criticism from the opposition.

Several significant questions remain unanswered. Officials have not confirmed whether the scheme will include an age restriction, nor whether it will impose a cap on the value of the property a buyer can purchase. Those two details were central to the design of earlier government schemes, and their absence from the announcement leaves it unclear how widely the policy would be available or how much it might cost the public purse. Equity loans of this kind also mean the state retains a stake in the property, rising with the value of the home.

The proposal is closely modelled on Help to Buy, introduced in 2013 by then-Chancellor George Osborne and later expanded from an earlier programme called FirstBuy, which was aimed only at first-time buyers. In its original form, Help to Buy let any purchaser put down a deposit of 5% on a newly built home worth up to £600,000, with up to 20% of the cost covered by a shared equity loan that was interest-free for the first five years. The first version of the scheme ran until 2021, before a second iteration — restricted to first-time buyers and subject to regional price caps — operated until 2023.

Official evaluation of Help to Buy found that more than 387,000 properties were bought through it, of which 328,000 were purchased by first-time buyers. But the report also concluded the scheme was "effective in supporting people into home ownership in some areas" while failing "to remove affordability barriers for first-time buyers in areas that were already relatively expensive" — a warning Burnham's team appears to have taken to heart.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said "Your First Home" would "build on the lessons learned from previous schemes, while retaining the benefits", without yet specifying what those changes would be. The Home Builders Federation, the industry body representing housebuilders, welcomed the announcement, saying it had "long called for action to improve access to home ownership". The federation added: "Our analysis shows a well-designed scheme can make a meaningful difference for households struggling to get on to the property ladder."

The Conservatives have attacked the plan from several directions. Katie Lam, the shadow housing secretary, accused Labour of wanting first-time buyers to "take on even more debt to afford the few homes that have been built", and warned that taxpayers would end up holding a "stake in their homes" and "picking up the bill for months". "Slapping another levy on developers risks pushing up the price of new homes too," she said. "This is a colossal admission of failure. This Labour government is making homes harder to build, then asking buyers to borrow more to pay for them."

Lam said the Conservatives would instead scrap stamp duty, "back British house builders" and ensure homes are "built in the places that people actually want to live" — a critique of what opponents see as a planning system that has held back construction in popular areas. The party has also questioned whether the government can hit its headline target of 1.5m new homes in England by the next election. Rayner told the BBC earlier this month there was only a "slim chance" of reaching the goal, but said she was "not giving it up". Construction data up to June suggests the country is already behind the pace required, and housebuilders have previously warned the target is too optimistic. BBC Verify analysis has found the number of new homes being built fell during Labour's first year in government, extending a decline that began under the Conservatives.

Burnham used the conference visit to set out a broader political message, saying he wanted a "really important week where we set out a new direction for the country". Referring to the decade since Brexit, he added: "We've had a decade since Brexit and it's been a decade of too much drift, too much division, and we need to draw a line on that."

A second pre-conference announcement targeted young people receiving health or disability support. Under the plan, an offer of a guaranteed job would be made three months after they begin claiming benefits, from next April. The government would cover 100% of wage costs for up to 25 hours a week for six months. Currently, jobless young people aged 18 to 24 must have been on universal credit for 18 months before qualifying for an offer under the existing job guarantee. Conservative shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said Labour should have reduced "burdens" on businesses to get disabled people into work, adding: "Instead, they are bringing back a Conservative post-pandemic scheme. Andy Burnham clearly has no new ideas."