Another day, another desperate throw of the dice (8)

From today's Metro:

Measures aimed at stimulating the mortgage market and helping hard-pressed homeowners have failed to convince housing experts...

Haven't convinced me, either.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said the Government would work on plans to underwrite mortgage financing in a bid to stimulate the sector ...

Yup. Having noticed over the past few weeks that neither the £37 billion bank bail-out nor the 150 bps cut in the BoE base rate have had the desired effect of magically reinflating the house price bubble, the gummint are now going to "underwrite mortgage finance", whence it is a small step to lending directly to borrowers (possibly channelled discreetly via NR or B&B). That's a polite way of saying "throwing taxpayers' finest at the problem".

... Banks traditionally sell on bundles of their mortgages to investors, in a process known as securitisation, to raise the money they need to lend to consumers. But the securitisation market has dried up in the wake of the problems in the US sub-prime mortgage sector, leaving banks increasingly reliant on using money from depositors to fund their mortgage lending.

Dude, WTF? The whole securitisation nonsense has mushroomed over the last five or ten years, it's not "traditional". Traditional is when banks and building societies rely on ... er ... money from depositors.

Mr Darling said: "To implement Sir James's recommendation, the Government would need to obtain State Aid approval from the European Commission and resolve some technical and practical considerations. But we will proceed to work up a detailed scheme based on his recommendations and seek State Aid approval to proceed."

When our only hope is the EU ... say no more.

Meanwhile, measures to help struggling homeowners were also announced by the Chancellor. If someone is having difficulty paying their mortgage, lenders will wait at least three months before initiating repossession proceedings. In addition a scheme that covers mortgage interest payments for those who lose their jobs will be extended to cover mortgages up to £200,000. "This will help ease worries for homeowners who have lost their jobs as they look for new employment," the Chancellor said.

Not forgetting that for every over-indebted family that isn't repossessed, there's another more cautious family in rented accommodation who'd love to buy ... it's a zero sum game.

£200,000? Not only is that up from the £175,000 first suggested a few weeks ago, that's a handsome slab of property in most parts of the country. Shouldn't the the government be, er, reducing the enormous burden of tax and regulations to ensure that not as many jobs are lost in the first place? Are we to have a two-tier Welfare State, the unemployed on council estates and the better class unemployed who managed to sign up for an unaffordable mortgage shortly before losing their job?

The Government also announced £15 million of new funding for debt advice in the Pre-Budget Report.

Six months ago that was £9 million.

Housing minister Margaret Beckett said: "... Everyone needs to do their bit to help families avoid the traumatic impact of repossession, and we expect lenders to do more to build on work already under way to help their customers."

FFS. I sold to rent in anticipation of a house price crash. My decision, my risk. Why should I now "do my bit" (i.e. pay loads of extra taxes) to subsidise other people's mortgages, prevent repossessions and prop up house prices? I want them to fall as far and as fast as possible, to be honest.