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Tories and Lib Dems may agree about green housing

Both the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Party have similar views on housing sustainability, it has been claimed.

John Alker, head of advocacy at the UK Green Building Council, said he believed that the government will actually be pretty stable under the newly-formed coalition.

He added that its a good thing that there is lots of agreement between the two parties about certain issues surrounding housing.

"When they got down the list and saw climate change I think they were probably quite glad that they could say, 'Yes, smart grids, yes, refurbishment of the existing housing stock'," Mr Alker noted.

In their pre-election manifesto, the Conservative Party outlined plans to abolish home information packs, as well as plans to make it easier for social housing tenants to buy their own homes.

The Liberal Democrats proposals included plans to bring 250,000 empty homes back into use and to ensure that repossession is a last resort when borrowers cannot meet mortgage repayments.

Mortgage lending figures for April reached their lowest point for ten years.

Results from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed gross lending was down 12 per cent from March 2010 to around £10.2 billion.

Michael Coogan, CML director-general, recognised that the coalition government is addressing housing issues but argued the "looming" funding gap also needs attention.

"It is important that the new government grasps this nettle," he commented. "Unless funding issues are addressed, any recovery in lending may well be curtailed as the repayment date on the support schemes gets closer."

Although the CML said it expected a shortfall in April because of Easter, the latest figures are the lowest for the month since 2000 when gross mortgage lending dropped to £9.3 billion.

Similarly, results from January 2010 were the lowest they had been in ten years, when gross mortgage lending did not exceed £8 billion.

The CML suggested that first-time-buyers will continue to find the market difficult despite slightly reduced rates and an improvement in the availability of high loan-to-value mortgages.