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What do you think could be done to assist the housing market?

Do you think that the new Stamp Duty ruling is going to help the housing market. Given that 100% mortgages are few and far between do you think if first time buyers were given interest free loans for a deposit it could help to get the market going again?

Public Comments

1. Suspending stamp duty is too little too late. We need to cut the interest rate by a full 1% or more, in order to secure confidence in the housing market.
2. Encourage sellers by scrapping the useless "Home Information Pack" Encourage buyers by facilitating Free loans secured against part of the property title, to be paid off over say 10 years. These loans would effectively be part purchase of the property. The biggest problem is that banks & building societies got themselves screwed up buy dealing in sub prime loans. (What on earth were they thinking ?) They should accept the losses and resume taking reasonable risks with genuine, able to pay, borrowers.
3. As private Fraser said on Dad's Army ' we're all doomed ' !
4. Radical. You have to kill house prices. Only Housing associations can rent them out. Own them if you can afford, but you can't rent them. Take the profit and commerce out of houses. Kill their prices and make them affordable, not business or pension proposition.
5. nothing that's what the government should. These people who want interference all have a vested interest, solicitors, estate agents buy to let investors. More money into the system is madness that's what started all this in the first place, it's like trying to put a fire out with petrol. Interest rates are fine where they are to ensure that inflation doesn't keep going up. Why all this obsession with getting the market going again? When gas and electric prices go up year on year people scream blue murder when house prices rocket people think it's great, because they've been conned into 'profit' on their homes. Banks lending to people who can afford a mortgage, lending sensibly such as short term loans and credit cards and people saving up before they buy something and not wasting food or energy 'Credit Crunch' sounds like normality to me.
6. Housing market will eventually take care of itself. The world wide economy is weak. The US ecomomy is actually in better shape than Europe or Asia. The housing bubble of 2004-2006 burst, and until all the surplus of homes is sold off the market will continue to bob along the bottom. Banks do not have a whole lot of money to lend, and their new demands for down payments has made it harder for people to get a loan. The housing market will eventually turn around as the economy improves. When is the question.
7. Interest Free loans are NOT going to happen .... How do you expect the mortgage companies to make any $$$$$$$ ? The "deposit" goes toward the price of the home at closing ..... It is the REALTORS that are causing this problem . They continue to ask people to LOWER the selling price of their home ; thus causing housing prices to FALL .... and FALL . Luckily; a lot of homeowners have caught on to this and are wanting the FAIR Market Value of their homes and the market IS picking back up although rather SLOWLY .... I understand that it was up here in central Florida by 3.5 % over last year .... YEAH !!!!
8. Nothing should be done..if the Govt leaves the market to readjust itself rather than trying to prop it up..which is what these desperate and ill thought out measures are doing..then prices will fall to a realistic level and first time buyers will afford to get on the ladder,.... These shared home ownership and interest free loans don't help 1st time buyers in the long term... as they are still paying well over the odds for a small share of the a over priced home... if prices were left to fall naturally they would buy the same houses with their own mortgage and not have to settle for this shared ownership... For some reason (?elections) this Govt thinks keeping prices high and stopping prices falling is the way to go...this does not help the young in any way....so what if prices fall 30%..eventually they will go up again...but at least young people will have a chance... As for the stamp duty...the money will still has to be paid..you just have a year of time out to worry about it...and what if God forbid some pple become unemployed later when this money is due...? this same Govt will want its money... The market will only start going again when Banks have sorted their balance sheets and re-capitalised...they have made huge losses and suspect one another of having more sub prime debt...when all this changes then the LIBOR would come down..and more money and confidence will return to the market...and they will start lending again at better rates...and more competitive mortgages will become avaliable..as they compete for market share...and this time hopefully, there will be NO 100% mortgages.. that is just reckless...and so unfair on many people...its time we all learnt that there is no such thing as a free lunch..and we learnt to save and put down deposits..which is NORMAL.....and what other generations of home owners like our parents did...after all in this life where do you ever get anything for nothing?
9. For the stamp duty I don't know cause in my area it didn't apply anyway cause of the value of the properties here. TBH in my opinion I think first time buyers should have saved/start saving for the deposit, like I did and I'm on my own.