We own land! Give us* money!

More Blue Socialism, this time it's Redrow asking for a bit of upwards redistribution. From the City AM:

THE head of housebuilder Redrow called on the government to take action over the sickly first-time buyer market in a bid to revive overall sales, after reporting better-than-expected annual results. Steve Morgan, the founder of Redrow who returned in a boardroom coup last year, described state intervention as a "no-brainer" due to low mortgage availability thwarting new home sales.

"I strongly urge the government to intervene by way of insurance indemnity schemes to enable lenders to provide 95 per cent mortgages to first time buyers, or at the very least, providing the first-time buyer a tax break," said Morgan.

Mortgage availability has remained depressed since the credit crisis, meaning that first-time buyers typically need a deposit of 20 per cent, from an average six per cent before the crisis, he added. House price growth and mortgage lending has stalled in recent months, leading to renewed fears of an economic slowdown.

And why do so many people equate "house price growth" (which is a direct function of mortgage lending, obviously) with "economic growth"? House price rises are at best a symptom of economic growth, and certainly not a cause. And as the credit bubble/crunch has amply illustrated, trying to base the entire economy on a credit bubble/property price bubble is a hiding to nothing. Ultimately, this makes us poorer, not richer.

* OK, technically they're asking the government to give their customers money, same thing.