Ministers today launched the government's long-awaited housing strategy – promising to 'break the current cycle in which lenders won't lend, builders can't build and buyers can't buy.'

A new build indemnity scheme to help up to 100,000 first-time buyers and higher Right to Buy discounts worth half the value of a home form central planks of the government action plan entitled 'Laying the Foundations: A Housing strategy for England'.