Vol. 347 No. 1
asked the Minister for the Environment if he will agree to amend the operations of the Housing Finance Agency to provide the following improvements: (1) the qualifying salary limit to be increased from £10,000 to £13,000; (2) and the maximum loan to be advanced by the agency to be increased from £22,500 to £30,000.
257.
asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware of the serious situation prevailing in the construction industry at present; if he will increase the maximum loan being advanced by the Housing Finance Agency to £30,000; if he will increase the qualifying salary limit to £13,000 per annum; and if he will make a statement on the house construction industry, the house finance situation and the house sales position over the past year and to date.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 256 and 257 together.
I am aware of the difficulties in the construction industry. These difficulties arise primarily from a reduction in demand for certain types of construction work and from a decline in the level of private sector investment. Public expenditure now accounts for about 70 per cent of all construction output. It is the Government's aim to maintain public sector investment in the industry at the highest practicable level consistent with the need to ensure a proper return on such investment and with the overall constraints on public spending generally.
Despite the difficult economic conditions house completions in 1983 totalled about 26,100. This performance was made possible by an increase of about 500 (from 5,686 to about 6,200) in the number of local authority houses completed, by a satisfactory flow of mortgage funds from public and private sources and by the success of the Housing Finance Agency in raising funds from institutional investors for lending to house purchasers with modest incomes.
As far as the Housing Finance Agency income and loan limits are concerned, I have already arranged that the review process be undertaken.
