Ryan Bembridge analyses the plethora of schemes aimed at first-time buyers entering and leaving the dysfunctional mortgage market
Buy-to-let crackdown
Another measure that could do more harm than good is the government’s crackdown on the buy-to-let market, with the introduction of the 3% stamp duty surcharge and reduction in mortgage tax relief from 2017 to 2020.
Peter Williams of IMLA is a critic of what the government is doing. “This is all simply the politics of housing – this is nothing to do with managing the buy-to-let sector,” he says. “It is about appealing to the public and setting out the stall that they are pro-homeownership.
“The question is whether starter homes and Right to Buy will prevent the decline, but in the scheme of things they’re relatively small fry.”
Boulger accuses the government’s policy of being disjointed, with first-time buyer schemes encouraging high loan-to-value lending on one hand and Prudential Regulatory Authority rules demanding banks hold more capital on the other.
