Politicians love them, thanks to the UK’s obsession with the housing market, and lenders love them both for their business value and for the PR they generate, particularly in the mutual sector, where first-time buyer lending is a fundamental aspect of what we do.

Talk about first-time buyers and you’re almost guaranteed to get positive press coverage.

This is still the case despite us being in the middle of the most severe economic crisis any of us have or probably ever will witness. Think back to the Chancellor’s autumn statement last month, for example.

Rome is burning (as are several other European capitals, of course), yet the reintroduction of right to buy and the government backed MIG scheme got great coverage.

These are welcome initiatives, however, we have to realise that they won’t by themselves resurrect a strong housing market.

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Equally, lenders and developers coming up with innovative schemes to help are similarly limited in their impact.

I’m absolutely not against these schemes – we have tried a few at Saffron and we will absolutely try a few more, yet we always see more business on a simple, high LTV mortgage product than we do on anything creative.

Any initiative that aims to “stimulate the first-time buyer market” should be seen and appreciated for what it is – a welcome effort that can unfortunately have only a limited impact.

There is nothing wrong with them, but they are no silver bullet as far as genuinely addressing the needs of the market.

It will make a difference to individuals who are in a position to get on the ladder, but in terms of the greater economic climate, it’s the equivalent of turning a hairdryer on an iceberg – you have warmed up the market for some, but it’s not likely to reduce the size of the problem.

What is the silver bullet?

In my view “it’s the economy stupid” – the vast, often unseen mass underlying this particular journey.

Things will get better only when consumers start to feel confident again about the future. Without a broader context in which we can see a more positive future, a single indicator such as housing activity is not the place to look.

Only time will tell how long it will take the housing market to thaw out completely and what direction it will turn along the way. In the meantime, wrap up warm.

John Eastgate, sales and marketing director at Saffron Building Society