Dr. Kieran McQuinn:

We have stated before what we thought about the help to buy scheme, that it is inflationary in nature. A report was published by Mazars last year on the scheme which raised a number of different issues about it. The report did not find evidence that the scheme was inflationary but it found evidence of other issues. In general, the basic problem to which we keep coming back in the housing market is that we need more supply; that is ultimately the issue. The demand-side measures which have been introduced may help certain households. Overall, though, ultimately it is stimulating demand at a time when supply is relatively fixed so we are not huge fans of those policies.