'Significant potential': Sheffield housebuilder MJ Gleeson hails John Healey's Your First Home scheme
Sheffield-headquartered housebuilder MJ Gleeson has welcomed Government plans to help “first-time buyers who don’t have the bank of mum and dad behind them”.
Chancellor John Healey announced the ‘Your First Home' scheme in the Budget, which will offer a government equity loan worth 20 per cent of the purchase price, interest-free for five years to people buying their first property.
The scheme, which will be funded by £4.7 billion of government-backed lending, is expected to open for applications in February 2027.
In a trading update issued by the company ahead of its AGM on Friday, the company initiative welcomed Chancellor John Healey’s Budget announcement of the ‘Your First Home’
The company said: “As anticipated, sales rates have improved from the weak summer but still remain subdued.
“Gleeson Homes’ open market net reservation rates for the 8 weeks to 1 November 2026 were 0.53 per site per week (0.88 including bulk reservations) against 0.52 per site per week (0.93 including bulk reservations) for the comparable period last year.
“The group welcomes the Government’s introduction of the Your First Home (“YFH”) scheme. We believe that YFH has significant potential to assist Gleeson’s target demographic of first-time buyers looking to buy a new home at an affordable price.
“The announcement of the scheme some five months before its launch is likely to postpone demand in the intervening period and to increase cancellations.
"We anticipate a weaker first-half, with the pace of recovery in the second half increasingly dependent on the efficient and timely introduction of the scheme.”
In terms of its land division, the company said: “We continue to progress a number of sales, and are seeing a good level of interest in sites brought to market, though with the same level of caution described at our last update in September.
“We were pleased to secure planning permission on three sites but continue to see adverse committee decisions following changes in political control after the local elections earlier this year, resulting in more sites having to go to appeal.
“We remain positive on the medium-term outlook, strengthened by the prospect of YFH, notwithstanding a lack of the visibility on the timing of land sales we would hope for.”
The statement added: “We remain focused on managing the business as efficiently as possible and are taking a cautious stance on working capital and site acquisitions.
“Given the likely timings of the introduction of YFH and its impact on Gleeson Homes’ sales, as well as the visibility around the timing of disposals in Gleeson Land, the board anticipates that profits will be significantly weighted towards the second half of the year with delivery of market consensus for FY2027 reliant on further improvement in buyer confidence.”