Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Fletcher and Bim Afolami

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

21. What recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes in mortgage interest rates over the course of this Parliament on household incomes.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Bim Afolami)]

The path to lower mortgage rates, as everybody in this House knows, is through lower inflation, which is why the Prime Minister and the Chancellor made halving inflation one of our five priorities for this year. The latest Bank of England forecast shows that we are on track for that. In June, lenders representing more than 90% of the mortgage market agreed to our new mortgage charter, which includes new flexibilities to help customers manage their repayments, backed up by UK Finance’s advertising campaign encouraging anyone worried about their repayments to contact their lender.

[Nick Fletcher]

Does the Minister agree that the best way we can help the next generation of homeowners is to increase the supply of homes, bring back the help to buy ISA and stop the 35-year mortgage shared-ownership models, which only increase house prices?

[Bim Afolami]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. On his first point, we are increasing the number of homes and we are optimistic that we will reach our target of delivering 1 million new homes over this Parliament. Secondly, the help to buy ISA was closed to new accounts in 2019, but existing holders can continue to save into their accounts. On his third point about stopping 35-year mortgages, it is important to have choice in the market and for people to make those choices for themselves. As a Government we are committed to supporting people doing just that.