The Government will try to put its recent problems behind it this week when it announces a package of measures to help struggling homeowners and first-time buyers.
It is expected to launch a number of initiatives tomorrow ranging from improved support for people facing repossession to new savings plans and shared equity schemes for those trying to get on to the property ladder.
The announcement will be made
as a joint statement from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Chancellor Alistair Darling and Secretary of State for Community and Local Government Hazel Blears.
Measures to help existing homeowners struggling with repossession are expected to be at the heart of the package.
The Government is understood to have been working with trade body the Council of Mortgage Lenders to ensure that repossession is only ever a last resort once everything else has failed.
It is also expected to announce moves enabling housing associations to purchase unsold homes on the open market to boost the social housing stock, as well as an expansion of the Government's shared equity schemes.
Other expected measures include an initiative to help people trying to get on to the property ladder save for a deposit, such as a doubling of the tax-free cash ISA allowance to £7,200 for first-time buyers.
At the moment buyers need to have a large deposit as lenders reduce the loan-to-value ratios they are prepared to advance as a result of falling house prices and a shortage of funds due to the credit crunch.
Tomorrow's statement is also expected to provide some clarity on the Government's intentions for stamp duty.
Housing transactions are reported to have stalled as people put plans on hold in the hope of not having to pay it.
The government needs to kick start the housing market with a packages of reforms, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said yesterday. Action so far has been limited, it said.
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