Tuesday 20 May 2014

"David Cameron 'alert' to housing bubble"

From the BBC:

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the government is "aware of the short term electoral boost" associated with rapidly rising house prices.

On BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he was asked to respond to Bank of England governor Mark Carney's statement that the booming housing market had resulted in the "biggest boost" to Conservative Party polling figures since 2010.

He said he agreed with Mr Carney. It was the Bank of England's responsibility to identify asset price bubbles and "stoke them in the run up to general elections", he added...

'Rocket boosters'

"It's absolutely right that we are alert to any dangers and problems affecting our chances of winning in 2015," Mr Cameron said.

"This government hasn't just talked about that, we appointed the former Canadian central banker who presided over the biggest house price bubble in his country's history to run the Bank of England."

Ministers have asked the Bank to examine the effect of the government's Help to Buy scheme, which enables people to take out mortgages on homes worth up to £600,000 with a deposit of just 5%.

Mr Cameron said: "Of course we will consider any changes that are proposed by Mark Carney, just as we expect him to do and say exactly what we want him to without us even having to spell it out."

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