How to turn the UK's 'generation rent' into 'generation buy' | Larry Elliott

A new paper says a blended mortgage' can work for first-time buyers unable to access help to buy or the bank of mum and dad

Property is Britain's obsession. As soon as the first lockdown ended there was a burst of activity in the housing market that only now seems to be tailing off. Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, says if the only economic statistic available was the one for mortgage approvals you would never know there had been a pandemic raging in 2020.

There was certainly a disparity between the strongest demand for home loans since 2007 and what was going on in the rest of the economy. Even after modest falls in January, prices are still rising at an annual rate of 5.4% according to the Halifax, and 6.4% according to Nationwide.