Government considers guaranteeing mortgages

Is there no end to this madness? Why should a renter have her tax receipts used to subsidize a first time buyer who wants to buy a home?

Why doesn't the government consider subsidizing rents? Why not offer guarantees for any renter unable to pay their rent? That way, I could find the big house somewhere in Hampstead, which I can't afford, rent it, default on my payments and then hand the bill over the Her Majesty's Treasury.

This proposal to guarantee mortgages would be so unfair. In fact, it is inequitable. I wonder whether Ms. Harman's new equality legislation could be used to outlaw this kind of guarantee?

From today's Guardian....

First time home buyers could be thrown a lifeline under plans being considered by the Treasury to underwrite 'risky' mortgages, allowing people with only small deposits to buy homes.

Since the credit crunch took hold, banks have demanded far tougher criteria for lending, asking buyers to provide between 25% and 30% of the price of a home as a deposit.

There were 30,000 loans to first time buyers in the first three months of 2009 against an average of more than 100,000 a quarter in the previous decade.