Supply and demand

AT THE SAME TIME as the government was relaunching its flagship scheme to help key workers on to the housing ladder (see yesterday), a leading specialist lender was releasing research that shows a major reason why they need it.

Paragon Mortgages told the Daily Mail that booming house prices had created thousands of buy-to-let millionaires. The average professional investor apparently now has a portfolio of 12 properties worth £1.5 billion.

The government still argues that lack of supply is responsible for the house price boom. It has increased output of new homes from 140,000 to 170,000 and plans 200,000 by 2016.

Yet with buy to let rising by 20 per cent in the first six months of this year, how many nurses and teachers are being priced out by speculators?