As part of the government’s reshuffle yesterday, Prisk was appointed as Housing Minister, succeeding Grant Shapps.
Prisk is a former chartered surveyor and is married to Lesley Titcomb, acting chief operating officer at the Financial Services Authority.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) said that as a matter of urgency, there are several immediate steps Prisk should consider, including maintaining funding for the Firstbuy scheme, take action to increase the supply of mortgage finance to homebuyers, work with Local Authorities and take urgent and radical action on the government’s commitment to cut regulatory costs.
Stewart Baseley, executive chairman, HBF said: “We welcome Mark Prisk to the role. Whilst he has an unenviable in tray, it is clear that he understands the scale of the job in front of him with his background in the sector.
“We hope he will offer some radical ideas to transform the current housing and planning systems and tackle the housing crisis, providing economic growth and jobs, and strengthening communities across the country. In his previous role he undertook some positive work to reduce regulation, a commitment his government has also made with regards to housing and something we hope he will now deliver on.”
Grenville Turner, chief executive of property services firm Countrywide has called on Prisk to view the health of the housing market as a priority and demonstrate this view through his actions and policy decisions.
“As we have said on many occasions to date, we believe the government needs to act quickly and progress reforms which address the key issues affecting the housing market – deposit affordability and the shortage of appropriate housing stock at the right price in the right location.
“The government needs to look at mortgage lending and should set minimum and meaningful mortgage lending targets to ensure more appropriate credit is made available to first-time buyers.
“We call for the structure of the UK house building sector and restrictive planning laws to be reviewed. Also, steps should be taken to ensure house prices are aligned with people’s wages, which would allow more people to move out of private rented and social housing accommodation to become home owners.”
Turner said that Stamp Duty for sub-£250,000 properties should be removed in order to boost housing market activity.
“Only 13% of Stamp Duty comes from properties worth less than £250, 000,” he insisted.
