Mayor to subsidise 'naked' homes solution to London housing crisis

"They will have a functioning sink and bathroom, but what they won't have is every interior wall or things like fitted coffee machines [which housebuilders often include]," he said.

Costs will be cut further because buyers will not have to pay for the land in the purchase price. The freehold will be retained by the council and owners will pay annual ground rent.

The plan is to ensure that the homes are cheap enough that buyers will only need to spend a third of their gross income on mortgage payments -- a widely used definition of "genuinely affordable" housing. Subject to planning consent, the apartments could be ready for occupation in 2020.

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The austere designs fit with a trend for minimal living among millennials forced upon them in part by a lack of disposable income because of high rents and property prices.