The Liberal Democrats plans to increase the supply of social housing, stem the tide of repossessions and rescue the construction industry are a welcome step forward to help the construction industry which is facing its worst recession since 1980, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Brian Berry, Director of External Affairs at the FMB said: "The Lib Dems plans to introduce a repair and renewal loan scheme for owners of empty properties if they agree to lease them for at least five years to housing associations is a welcome initiative as is their plan to allow commercial properties temporarily being used for housing to claim commercial property rate relief. However, it would have been even better if the Lib Dems could have gone further to set out their strategy to refurbish our existing housing stock as this is a potential market worth at least £3.5 billion every year for building companies."


Berry continued. "Measures to get the banks lending again are the key to getting Britain out of the recession. In addition to the proposed 'safestart mortgages' it would have been better if the Lib Dems could have called for the reintroduction of mortgage interest tax relief to kick start the housing market. This combined with existing Lib Dem policy for a cut in VAT to 5% for property refurbishment would start to make a big difference not only to the thousands of people who want to get on the property ladder but also to the thousands of builders who face an uncertain future."

(CD/JM)