While many of us prefer to ease ourselves gently into a new year, the same can't be said of Grant Shapps. The housing minister has been busy causing a stir, tackling the controversial topics of house prices and mortgage availability.
In an interview in the Observer he declared that the era of booming house prices is over. Homeowners should no longer view property as an investment that will see them through retirement, he argued, but as a roof over their head. He has also arranged a meeting with Hector Sants, head of the FSA, to discuss the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) to ensure the regulator does not ‘shut the stable door' after the housing correction has already taken place. But while Shapps is keen to make it easier for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder, and ensure lenders don't batten down the hatc...
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