The Government has announced a new housing strategy this week to tackle the housing shortage and boost the country's flagging housing market.
The policy centres around a new build indemnity scheme which will allow buyers to secure loans on newly-built homes with just a 5% deposit - with the Government and housebuilders helping to provide security for the loans.

Affordable housing providers will also get £1.8bn in funding to develop new homes. The first £1bn of contracts have already been confirmed, putting the Government on track to deliver up to 170,000 new affordable homes across the UK over the next four years.

And for existing builds that have stalled due to economic conditions, a £400m 'Get Britain Building' funding pot will enable housebuilders to restart construction, creating up to 16,000 new homes on sites that already have planning permission.

Support will also be offered to self-builders, with £30m additional funding going to support provision of short-term project finance on a repayable basis.

Ironmongery products supplier Ironmongery Direct has welcomed the news. Md Wayne Lysaght-Mason commented: "This is good news for a sector which has faced such a tough time recently and of course great news for our customers, the tradesmen who will be working on such projects.

"However it's also crucial that the banks work together with small and medium size businesses to help provide the best possible package and support during lean times. We recently secured a new financing deal which has allowed us to invest for future growth but we had to change banks in the process to get the support we needed. It's important that everyone pulls together to ensure that the gloomy predictions for 2012 are actually brighter."