London house prices are not a sign of a new property bubble, says senior Lib Dem

A senior Liberal Democrat has denied claims the government is creating a new housing bubble by saying property prices in London are ?an exception?.

Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander hit back at his cabinet colleague Vince Cable at the party?s annual conference in Glasgow, flatly ruling out calls by the Business Secretary for a rethink of the second stage of the controversial Help to Buy scheme which comes into effect in January.

Mr Cable has warned providing government guarantees for low deposit mortgages risked stoking property prices, creating a dangerous new asset bubble, just as the economy was beginning to pick up.

However Mr Alexander said the concerns of his Lib Dem colleague, who represents Twickenham in south west London, would simply not be recognised across most of the rest of the country.

?We are a million miles away form a housing bubble in this country,? he told Sky News? Murnaghan programme.

?Of course in central London, in Kensington and Chelsea, you see very high house prices but I don?t think we should allow the tail of central London to wag the dog of this policy.

?I don?t think that we need to rethink this policy, not least because we have always said it?s a time-limited policy for three years, after which the Financial Stability Committee of the Bank of England will be able to make a judgment.

?But right now the problem in this country, the problem in my constituency in Inverness or here in Glasgow or across vast swathes of England and Wales is not a housing boom, it is getting construction going, it?s getting opportunities for people to own their own home.

?That?s the problem we should be dealing with now.?

Source: http://www.london24.com/london_house_prices_are_not_a_sign_of_a_new_property_bubble_says_senior_lib_dem_1_2545940

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