It has become known that the government is expecting house prices in the UK to fall by 5-10 percent this year, after the housing minister Caroline Flint took some papers to a cabinet meeting this week, which clearly indicated this prediction. The secret briefing notes were accidentally revealed by the housing minister, and the notes also read “We can’t know how bad it will get.”
Caroline Flint was photographed with the notes as she went into the meeting, but after the revelation that the notes had been seen she simply stated ‘These things happen’. She went on to state that the notes did not contain firm forecasts but only predictions. The government has said that the information in the report is only the same as that already voiced publicly by senior government officials.
However, the ‘leaked’ notes have provided the opposition with a weapon, with the shadow housing minister stating that they reflect the “incompetence at the heart of government”. He said that the government was telling the public one thing whilst secretly predicting the exact opposite.
The notes referred to predicted house prices falls, and read: “given present trends they will clearly show sizeable falls in prices later this year - at best down 5-10% year-on-year”. It also referred to a slowdown in house building, reading: “House building is stalling. New starts are already down 10% compared to a year ago. House builders are predicting further falls. Having seen net additions reach roughly 200,000 in each of the last two years, the figure for 2008-9 is almost certain to be well down on that.”
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