Cameron seeks young vote with pledge of more cheap starter homes

By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Conservatives would double the planned number of cut-price new homes available to first-time buyers if re-elected, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday in a bid to woo voters ahead of a close national vote in May. Home ownership in Britain is at its lowest rate for nearly thirty years, according to data from mortgage lender Nationwide. There has been a particularly sharp decline among 25-34 year olds with first-time buyer house prices around 5 times average earnings. "There has been a quiet crisis going on in our country for too long. Young people getting a job, working for years, saving away, but still unable to buy," Cameron said in a speech in south east England. Britain's election is expected to be very close, possibly ending in another coalition because of a weakening of main parties in favour of smaller one. The Conservatives are neck-and-neck with the opposition Labour party in many polls, but with the Greens, the UK Independence Party, the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats likely to stop a single-party majority. One result is a series of targeted policies being unveiled aimed at specific groups such as the young and pensioners. The Conservative-led coalition government had already set out plans to offer 100,000 new homes at a 20-percent discount to first-time buyers under 40. Cameron said his party would increase this to 200,000. "We are going to take this good idea and accelerate it ... giving more young people the security of owning a home," he said. The government, in power since 2010, has sought to boost construction of homes to help address a shortage that is helping to push up prices, and the Conservatives have already said they plan to extend until 2020 a scheme to provide equity loans to buyers of newly built homes. Labour, who have pledged to increase the number of new homes built every year to 200,000 by 2020 and introduce rent controls for private landlords, said Cameron had failed on housing. "Under this government we are building fewer homes than at any time since the 1920s and record high numbers of families are being forced to rent," said Labour leader Ed Miliband. ($1 = 0.6502 pounds) (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)