We own land! Give us money!

Via HPC:

1. From HouseLadder:

Landlords should receive more government support in order to encourage lenders to grant buy-to-let mortgages, it has been claimed.

Chris Town, vice-chair of the Residential Landlords Association, noted although the market appears to be "loosening up … it is still very restrictive for professional landlords who wish to get into the market in a serious way".

Britons hoping to let property privately may find limited new home construction means it is difficult to join the buy-to-let market, as a shortage of real estate will potentially push up prices and make it harder to secure a loan.

And handing out more generous loans won't push up prices?

2. From Estate Agent Today:

Mark Clare, chief executive of Barratt Developments, said: “The findings from this nationwide poll illustrate the extent of the housing crisis facing Britain and the depth of the public policy challenges we now have to tackle as a result. There is no silver bullet which will solve the problem overnight, but there are steps which can be taken.”

“Without doubt, making mortgage finance more readily available to credit-worthy first-time buyers should be top of the list. It cannot be right that people in their 30s with good jobs and good credit histories are having mortgage applications turned down. I am pleased the Government has rightly identified this as an urgent problem and is meeting the banks to assess what can be done.”

OK, Barratts aren't so daft as to ask for money directly, but expecting the government to force banks to give their customers more money has much the same effect, and unlike the BTL vultures in (1), Barratts can take that money and walk away, it'll be the FTB's who are lumbered with the debts.