UK Housing Market Is Dysfunctional

The UK housing market is "dysfunctional" and building more homes will fail to solve the problem on its own, a key industry figure has said. Bob Pannell, chief economist of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), said that activity in the market was "sluggish". He argues that sales levels were the same as in the mid-1990s. At that time, many people were facing negative equity and the stock of homes was much smaller, he said. Reforming areas such as property tax would help, Mr Pannell said, alongside building more properties. Read more on the CML website.

Help To Buy 'Mistaken' and 'Dysfunctional'

An ex-member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, Adam Posen, has called the government's Help to Buy scheme 'mistaken' and 'dysfunctional'. Chancellor George Osborne considers the scheme to be of crucial help to house buyers, and also a means of stimulating the construction sector. But Mr Posen said: "I find this whole initiative largely mistaken by the Treasury." "The idea of pumping up credit for middle to upper-middle class people to spend more on housing, when people have already spent too much on housing, is dysfunctional," Mr Posen told BBC Radio 5 live's Wake Up to Money programme. "We need a distinction between housing policy and mortgage policy, and we need affordable housing in the great cities of the North.”  Read more on the BBC website.