What no-one dared say at the first-time-buyer summit: house prices must fall - This is Money Blog

What no-one dared say at the first-time-buyer summit: house prices must fall - This is Money Blog

What was Tuesday's housing summit convened by Grant Shapps supposed to have achieved on behalf of first-time buyers?

All it did was highlight (again) a Government utterly conflicted on the issue of credit.
On the one hand the Government screams for banks to get their house in order (ie, recapitalise, by reducing lending). On the other, it screams for banks to ease the housing crisis (ie, by lending more).

Back onto hand number one: new, tougher regulations force lenders to hold EIGHT times as much capital against mortgages where borrowers have just ten per cent equity, compared to mortgages where borrowers have 40 per cent equity. And back onto hand number two: 'I do not want to see the current generation completely