Tackling Housing Market Volatility in the UK: a Progress Report

Volatility has plagued the UK housing market for four decades. The
JRF Housing Market Taskforce identified ways to create a more
sustainable housing market. This paper presents a progress report,
and highlights key priorities for the Government.
Key points
The Government should:
• Conduct a revaluation of property for Council Tax purposes with a view to gradually transforming it into a national land and property value tax, following full modelling to identify difficulties and to inform its design.
• Ensure the Financial Policy Committee has the power to introduce mortgage credit controls, and that the housing market as a whole is monitored as a threat to wider economic stability.
• Monitor the FSA’s new mortgage rules to ensure they do not unnecessarily exclude low risk borrowers from the housing market, collecting the necessary data to do this and formally reviewing the rules after three years.
• Introduce a more effective safety net for home-owners that shares responsibility fairly between home-owners, lenders and government.
• Switch the emphasis of housing subsidies away from a reliance on Housing Benefit towards housing supply, as part of a new model for financing new affordable housing.