It is agreed that more needs to be done to maintain this progress. As someone who benefited from the first-time buyer's grant when I took advantage of a subsidised mortgage from a housing financing agency when I started off, I found the abolition of the grant surprising but understandable. Times have changed. When it was introduced in 1987 the market and economic climate were different. Perhaps we have been victims of our own success. The result of the improvements over which my party has presided is that the focus and effectiveness of the grant has been lost. It was originally conceived as an assistance for people to enter the housing market. Most new buyers today do not benefit directly from it but builders do. Some lending institutions include the grant in the calculation of their eligibility criteria for a loan. The purchaser never sees the grant. Some people buying property for investment purposes also avail of it.