Lunchtime news Feb 20

John Hills is presenting his report on the future of social housing at noon. More later.

Among the previews in this morning’s papers, The Times reports that thousands of new tenants will be offered six-month tenancies. You can hear the Today programme item on Hills here.

The DCLG has published research on the demand for social housing, a synthesis of existing data on who currently lives in it and who wants to.

The DCLG also published research into the acheivements of local area agreements and future arrangements for them.

The Financial Times reports on a new survey showing a quarter of lenders will now offer mortgages running for 40 years.

Which is not such a problem for the super-rich: The Times reports plans for flats overlooking Hyde Park costing £26m each.

The CML published figures showing January mortgage lending at an all-time high and 16% up on January 2006.