Nick Clegg's pension property plan is just plain potty | Larry Elliott | Business | The Guardian

Nick Clegg's pension property plan is just plain potty | Larry Elliott | Business | The Guardian

Over the years the Liberal Democrats have come up with more than their fair share of potty ideas. Few of them, though, are pottier than Nick Clegg's suggestion that parents should be able to dip into their pension pots in order to provide their offspring with the down payment on a property.
This is wrong on so many levels it is hard to know where to begin, but let's start with the basic rules of economics. The reason homes are out of reach for most young people is that property prices are too high. The obvious way to allow more people to get their foot on the housing ladder is to bring prices down. Clegg's idea would have the opposite effect. It would push up prices and only help young people with well-off parents. Bad economics and regressive to boot.