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Government seeks to give FTBs a hand
16 May 2008 11:30
The government has announced proposals for helping more people onto the property ladder, as well as for assisting lenders at this difficult time for the mortgage sector.
As part of its draft legislative programme, the government is to allocate up to £200 million for buying properties on the open market, a share of which will then be offered to first-time buyers (FTBs) on a shared equity basis under its Homebuy initiative.
Moreover, the proportion of FTBs who can apply for shared homeownership schemes is to be expanded from just key workers to all buyers with an income of less than £60,000 - a measure that has received the backing of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Its director general Michael Coogan asserted that this legislation would make the government's approach to shared equity more logical, basing its availability on people's incomes rather than their professions.
The CML has also voiced its support for the government's plan to grant the Bank of England a freer hand in providing liquidity assistance to troubled institutions, arguing that the Bank should be able to react flexibly to changing conditions in credit markets.
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