Peter Williams is executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association
With the government favouring short-term housing and mortgage lending initiatives to boost the economy, we may have to get used to ‘distorted’ year-on-year comparisons making it difficult to assess market growth.
It has certainly been a steady month with activity up compared to March. But the after-effects of the stamp duty holiday confuse the picture when it comes to determining just how much progress has been made in the last twelve months.
With Help To Buy following New Buy, First Buy and the Funding for Lending Scheme, no-one can accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the housing and mortgage markets.
But it is unlikely that initiatives which exaggerate activity over limited periods of time will add up to consistent and meaningful growth unless we decide exactly what the future of the industry should look like.
We are concerned that this broad discussion is yet to happen and feel it should be an urgent priority in order to avoid distorting the market and further unintended consequences.
