Britain 'moving away from housing market ideal'

Britain will be forced into moving away from the idea that everyone should own their own home, with government measures unlikely to bolster the housing market in the coming years, it has been warned.

According to housing consultancy Academetrics, the markets for housing and mortgages will remain subdued for some time, with prices and transaction levels stagnating, Reuters reports.

The research-based consultancy believes that government proposals, including a mortgage indemnity scheme to encourage new loans, fail to address some of the key issues facing the housing market.

Peter Williams, chairman of Academetrics, was quoted saying: "It's very hard to see that the kinds of measures proposed to date through the housing strategy [will] reboot the market."

"The government policy review is obviously earnest and worthwhile but it is striking that one has a strategy without any clear aims and objectives or plan; it's a series of measures."

According to the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, the year ahead will be challenging for the UK's housing and mortgage markets, as well as the economy as a whole.

Members of the industry body typically expect GDP to remain sluggish at 0.91 per cent.

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