Property market 'needs radical changes from government'

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 13:50:00 GMT

A managing director has explained some alternative ideas for how the government could improve the housing situation in the UK.

The government can act positively for the property market by carrying out two stages of action, an expert has claimed.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics, theorised that to have a meaningful and helpful impact on the sector the government needs to be prepared to be unpopular.

He described two potential changes he believes politicians could make.

"First, planning laws which hold back the development of new housing need to be restructured and relaxed to boost new building," Mr Bootle said, adding: "Second, tax laws need to attenuate the artificial inflation of demand for property."

He noted if Westminster was willing to be radical, it would stop subsidies to owner-occupiers, which he reasoned, would end the trend of single people living in large homes as a tax-efficient way of increasing their wealth.

Last month, a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors report suggested that the government also needs to administer innovative solutions to remedy the growing demand for housing.
 

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