Mark Prisk has been appointed as housing minister.
He replaces Grant Shapps who, despite being embroiled in a storm over his various alter egos’ internet activities, has been made Tory Party chairman.
However, Countrywide has called for rapid government action to improve the property market.
“We see first hand how the market is performing and the message remains that more needs to be done to help individuals buy and rent their own homes and as a result help the UK economy,” said Grenville Turner, chief executive of Countrywide.
“We call on the new housing minister to view the health of the housing market as a priority and demonstrate this view through his actions and policy decisions.
“As we have said on many occasions to date, we believe the government needs to act quickly and progress reforms which address the key issues affecting the housing market – deposit affordability and the shortage of appropriate housing stock at the right price in the right location.”
Turner said the government needs to look at mortgage lending and should set “minimum and meaningful mortgage lending targets” to ensure more appropriate credit is made available to first-time buyers.
He added: “We call for the structure of the UK house building sector and restrictive planning laws to be reviewed. Also, steps should also be taken to ensure house prices are aligned with people’s wages, which would allow more people move out of private rented and social housing accommodation to becoming home owners – a key aspiration for many.
“In addition, stamp Duty for sub-£250,000 properties should be removed in order to boost housing market activity at a time where higher deposits are required to obtain a mortgage, as only 13% of Stamp Duty comes from properties worth less than £250,000.
“As we sell almost one in 10 of all residential properties in the UK and are the business that rents the most homes to people, we have a fundamental interest in a healthy and robust housing market, not the boom and bust model. As such, we look forward to the chance to present our ideas to Mr Prisk and discussing these proposals and the housing market in more detail.”
