Tax payers money to bail out the house builders - shameless! Better to give tax cuts to the poorest so that they can spend their income on the property they want rather than reverting to Stalinist central planning. Better yet leave it to the market to set the new much lower prices!

Father Ignatius Brown, London, UK

So if I am struggling to pay for a flat I have just bought in one of these developments I can expect to have a host of single mothers with screaming babies and pushchairs moved in next to me, with the added delight of their feckless boyfriends. And I'm taxed to pay for them too!
Love you Gordon.

C Smith, Norwich, UK

The Government has done enough to fuel the housing bubble - a rapid price correction is needed and Government meddling to slow the correction will only perpetuate a false market.

James, London, England

Labour seem to be trying to waste as much money as possible to keep the housing bubble inflated. They know they will soon be on their way, so it won't be their mess. They are just digging as big a hole as possible for the next government.

Fred, Moray, Scotland

Take away the gloss of the terracotta tiles and the cedar panelling and what we are left with are properties that “they” tried to coax us to live in 40 years ago. Sell them to the Housing Associations and watch how quick the concrete boxes show there true colours.

steve, york, UK

Hold on a second: weren't we told for the last 5 years that lack of supply to meet rocketing demand was the root cause of the house price boom? Yet now it seems no-one wants the newly built houses and flats after all. Could it possibly all just have been a speculative bubble driven by cheap credit?

MB, Edinburgh,

The idea of part buy part own (blatently what is in mind here) only serves to maintain unrealistic prices. These schemes benefit no one.
A responsible approach to the housing market would be to limit the number of homes you can own and to re-introduce the fair rent act. It ain't rocket science!!!

Ozzy, Brighton, UK

Whilst the residential market was over valued prior to the credit crunch the current crisis enveloping house builders has the potential to bring virtually every house hold in this country to its knees.
Any scheme which could help bring normality back should be tried albeit this is late in the day.

Antony Hughes, London,

James from Bristol has hit the nail on the head. These flats and houses are vacant for a reason. There is simply no demand at the price level. And this plan is a sham excuse for giving taxpayers money to housebuilders. Another temporary prop for the housing market. Tax relief on interest next?

Michael, London,

I'm sure that all of the unsold flats could easily be sold to private buyers, but not for anything like 2007 prices.

Rob, London, UK

Elsewhere your correspondents say that it is vital for the Government to maintain fiscal responsibility during the current financial crisis.
Where is the money coming from?
Borrowings or Tax?
If Borrowings we have irresponsibility.
If tax we have political suicide.
Perhaps a tax on MP's exes.

Stephen Green, Correns, France

The housing market is far too big for the government to have any lasting impact on its direction, but they could easily waste huge sums attempting to prove that they are 'doing something'.

Better to have a rapid correction than a long period of stagnation as houses find their sustainable value.

Tom Archer, Saffron Walden,

Attempting to prop up the property bubble - that will help people who cannot afford a home!

Why do we delude ourselves into thinking unaffordable housing makes people richer. It makes everyone poorer.

Let prices collapse, I will be much happier in a much bigger house 'worth nowt'.

Alex, Nottingham, UK

Inner City "Luxury apartments" - the slums of the future.

Michael Abdad, Leicester, UK

The best for the government to do is to stay away from the housing market. Let the builders and state agents go broke. That will teach them and the prices will come down to levels we can afford. No rocket science.

Fabio C, London, UK

So let's get this straight. The housing market is grossly inflated so the government is going to take money off me in taxes to prop up this market and thus ensure that homes will remain expensive and I'll have even less money to afford one. Of course, the work shy and feckless can take their pick.

John, London,

Live Off the State!
And provide job's for people not "Normally" employable within the "Housing Reality"!
Cut the "Quango's, who will administer such a scheme!
Let the "Free Market/Democracy Prevail, rather than "Job's for the "Boy's". The PFI iniative should be as for "Pensions"!

Paul, Newtown,Powys, UK

If these newly-built flats and houses are vacant then either there was no demand for them in the first place or the price is too high. I was sceptical about the need for such a large increase in the house-building programme but I do welcome a reduction of price back to long-term earning multiples

James, Bristol,