Following a recent meeting with banking and mortgage officials the government has announced that there will be help in place to assist struggling homeowners that are in danger of losing their homes due to mortgage arrears. This includes those that are coming off cheap fixed rate mortgage, many of whom could face losing their homes when their mortgage interest rate and their monthly repayments rocket once their current deal comes to an end.

The Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, said: “We want to ensure there continues to be stability and fairness in the housing market, and that the support is in place for consumers who may need it right now.”

However, the Conservative Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond stated: “I think the government – now that the Bank of England has made this intervention to address the liquidity problem – will have to focus its attention on how to support the housing market.”

There are also concerns that whilst the government has pledged to help struggling homeowners not information was provided as to how this would be done.

A Liberal Democrat official said: “One of the possibilities being mooted…is that the taxpayer could have been tapped for additional money to provide additional benefits to people who are in mortgage arrears. We really need to find out exactly what has been happening in these talks so that the government isn’t making any more concessions at the expense of the taxpayer.”

Caroline Flint also stated: “Demand for housing from first-time buyers and young families is high and the fundamentals of the economy are sound. But we know that some prospective borrowers are facing difficulties at the moment because of the global supply of credit.”

Recent additions:

• Mortgages could continue to get more expensive
• Abbey takes huge slice of the mortgage market
• First annual fall since 90s for house prices
• Mortgage approval levels remain on a low
• Interest rate cut becomes more likely due to tighter lending conditions

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