David Cameron has finally decided to do something about Britain’s troubled housing market, but it’s not sitting pretty with analysts and investors alike. His radical new strategy (his words, not mine) includes: letting first-time buyers access mortgage funds after only putting up 5% in down payments; further pushes for the Right To Buy scheme targeted at social housing, and injecting a (deceivingly) sizable £400 million to resuscitate the country’s moribund construction sector. Also, in a bid to highlight how incredibly serious Mr. Cameron’s government is about resolving the current housing crisis, he even announced to insure lenders against any defaulting mortgages initiated under the said plan. No explanations, however, as to why none of this gloom was apparent last year while carrying out those brutal spending cuts, of which developmental housing bore the deepest gashes.
