Brown pumps £300m into housing market

Gordon Brown has unveiled a plan to commit at least £300 million to schemes to help the housing market.

Some £100 million of the funds will be dedicated to shoring up the market, which has seen the number of mortgages taken out drop drastically, by opening up new shared equity schemes.

The schemes will give all first time buyers with a household income of less than £60,000 the chance to buy a share of a home, a scheme which was previously open only to key workers.

Another £200 million will go to buying social housing properties.

His announcements, which were dubbed a draft of the Queens Speech, also highlighted plans to help people on lower incomes make savings, with the government matching every £1 saved.

He said: "The Queen's Speech will also introduce a savings bill to help home ownership and wealth ownership generally - giving eight million people on low incomes access to a national savings scheme, with each pound saved matched by a contribution from the government."