Market has brought 'misery' to first time buyers

12-Sep-2007

The housing market has brought misery to large portions of the British public, in part because of successive governments' failure to address issues of land supply, one leading economist has claimed.

Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics has said that continually rising house prices fuelled by a lack of supply have not been adequately dealt with by ministers.

While the current government has already announced plans to build three million new homes by 2020, Mr Bootle has said that the market as it stands is an "unbridled failure".

"Most people see the UK housing market as a story of great success. I don't. On the contrary, I see it as one of the UK's most unbridled failures," Mr Bootle told a conference in Wales.

"The central issue is quite clear - it is getting to grips with the availability of land for building and ensuring that the rate of building moves up quite sharply after that," he added.

However, official figures have recently revealed that the rate of new home starts for the first half of 2007 was actually below current targets.

"It's true that solutions from the government have been too little too late," commented Helen Adams, managing director of first time buyers' advice centre FirstRungNow.com.

"The fact is that demand for accommodation and property far outstrips supply, leaving first time home buyers in a position where they are invariably having to look into co-financing or co-ownership as a way to get onto the first rung of the property ladder," Ms Adams added.

2008: May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2007: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2006: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | Jun | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2005: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | Jul | Jun | May | Apr | Mar