§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to ensure that funds available for lending from building societies match the appropriate capacity of the building industry.
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§ Mr. FreesonI have no reason to think that the supply of mortgage finance is at present acting as a constraint on private housebuilding activity.
§ Mr. Roderickasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much of their funds he foresees the building societies investing in mortgages on older properties such as local authorities have done in the past; and what was the comparable sum for local authorities.
§ Mr. FreesonUp to about one-fifth of building society loans are made on pre-1919 properties. I have at present no directly comparable figures for local authorities.