Cllr Sara Duncan, said: “While I welcome the government’s announcement that they will conduct a housing affordability review, they must ensure that any future measures provide real help for first time buyers on low incomes.
“We are seeing a situation in Northern Ireland where property developers are continuously outbidding first time buyers and snapping up large numbers of houses on the property market.
“This is preventing people on low incomes from getting on the property ladder and is having a severe impact upon the futures of many young people in Northern Ireland.
“Many young people have to live with their parents until they have saved up enough money to put down a deposit on their first house. Often, we see a scenario in which young people here live at home until they are thirty because the cost of property here is so high that they have to save for years and years before they can afford a house.
“Alliance wants to see the provision of affordable housing for key workers, such as doctors, teachers and nurses. Schemes along these lines already exist in England and they have proved very successful.
“I am sure that Sir John Semple, who is conducting this review, will produce a study which calls for assistance for first time buyers on low incomes, and I hope that the government will heed such advice and implement such measure with urgency.”
ENDS