Having been strongly criticised for his handling of the Northern Rock debacle, expectations from the mortgage industry about Alistair Darling’s first Budget were subdued.

And to that end, he did not disappoint, delivering a Budget of modest announcements with – as Michael Coogan, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders noted – “little of immediate concrete substance for the housing or mortgage markets”.

With lenders slowly dying of thirst as liquidity issues worsen, and house price growth stalling as consumer confidence wavers, the mortgage industry was crying out for action. What the market needed was immediate measures to restore confidence in what is a generally low-risk market. And what happened? Well, a number of policies were announced, but there was very little that will actually make an impact.

Changes to Stamp Duty are a perennial issue, and first-time buyers need a boost now more than ever.

But when it came down to it, all Darling could manage was to offer relief on shared equity schemes until people own 80% of the property. Unfortunately, the take-up of such schemes is all but meaningless when compared with the market as a whole.

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Then there was Darling’s intention to improve the attractiveness of long-term fixed-rate mortgages. This has long been an intention of the Government, but the mortgages are only suitable for a small number of people, and like the shared ownership announcement, they will not be greeted with joy. People’s circumstances can change out of all recognition in 25 years, and no-one can predict how. If Darling knows how he can make these mortgages attractive to both borrowers and lenders, then his reputation would undoubtedly be restored, but if not…

At least the Chancellor said his plan for a Gold Standard for UK mortgage-backed securities would be looked at by a working group, but even here there was nothing tangible as the timescales are too long. By the time it has reported back, it will be the autumn – the short-term funding problems need to be addressed now. Who knows what state the market will be in by the last quarter of the year? n