Barratt blames Government for housing `injustice'
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir Lawrie Barratt, chairman of Barratt Developments, Britain's biggest housebuilder, yesterday launched a new broadside against the Government, blaming it for the "unprecedented damage" currently being inflicted on the industry following its decision to cut mortgage interest relief and withdraw income support.
Sir Lawrie said the Government had actively encouraged the growth of home ownership since 1979 by specific incentives, which were "a small price to pay" compared with the "penal" cost of public housing.
Posing as the housebuyer's champion, Sir Lawrie called for the restoration of tax relief at 25 per cent, up from its current 15 per cent, the doubling of the ceiling on tax relief to pounds 60,000, and the abolition of stamp duty. As a minimum, they should be extended to first-time buyers, he said.
A long-standing critic of recent government policy on the housing market, Sir Lawrie said he was "pointing out the injustices which have been inflicted on homeowners over the past three years which they did not expect". He added that people who took on 25-year commitments three, four, five years ago certainly did not expect mortgage relief to be eroded, and further substantial damage had been caused by the move to phase out mortgage income support. "You will not bring about a restoration of confidence until the current injustices inflicted on homeowners are removed," he said.
His comments came as figures published by the high street banks and building societies yesterday suggested that there had been a small increase in mortgage lending in August. But the amounts were still low compared with last year.
Tim Sweeney, director general of the British Bankers' Association, said: "Mortgage lending was again fairly depressed in August but there was some recovery from the very low July figure." Adrian Coles of the Building Societies Association said: "It will be some time before it is certain that this is the beginning of a recovery in the market."
Net advances by the building societies rose to pounds 750m last month, from pounds 729m in July, but were well down on last August's pounds 1.1bn. New commitments fell last month.
Mortgage lending by the big banks rose by pounds 581m, better than July's pounds 382m increase, and about the same as last August.
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