NAEA says government should learn from US mistakes

24 July 2008

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, says the housing market is the pillar of the UK economy and that it will require creative thinking to ease pressures and ensure the downturn does not worsen.

Bolton King says: “The first thing the government could do is introduce a tax break, such as abolishing Stamp Duty for first -time buyers and moving the thresholds up to ease pressure throughout the whole housing market giving people a reason and incentive to come back.

“In addition, the Bank of England needs to pump more liquidity into the mortgage markets to ensure people are able to find funding for mortgages, together with the government supporting more pro-active initiatives, such as the blueprint recently drawn up by The Council of Mortgage Lenders, to address the funding problems in the mortgage market.”

Bolton King says these are just a few of the measures that will help consumers and begin to restore confidence in the market.

He adds: “If the government really wants to help the housing market we need to see action now from the government to ease pressure and give consumers hope for the future.”

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name

I have read and agree to the terms and conditions