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Affordable Housing

The hon. Gentleman has probably answered the intervention by the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) better than I have. I would describe the third area touched on by the report as the risks and rewards of home ownership, which is a difficult subject for this House to discuss. We are all in favour of a home-owning democracy, but we must recognise that that brings some significant risks, both at the micro level of the individual and the family and at the macro level of the economy. I am sure that the Minister will be happy to say that since 1997 an extra 1 million families have taken up owner-occupation, some 600,000 of whom have done so under the right to buy. Now, 71 per cent. of all families live in owner-occupation, which is the highest rate in western Europe—it is also higher than the figure for the United States, which might be thought of as the ultimate property owning society. Interest rates are about half the average level of 10 or 15 years ago, and employment is at an historically high level. As a consequence of those two factors, people can undertake a greater level of mortgage debt. At the same time, we have experienced problems with pension funds, which will be the subject of a debate later this afternoon, and that has undermined confidence in pensions in many ways. There has been some stagnation in the stock market, which has made direct investment less attractive. Taking all those factors together, investment in housing has been very attractive.