Bank of England ‘should be able to freeze house prices’

Quantitive easing by the Bank of England has eased the money supply

The Bank of England should use its powers to freeze house prices for the next five years to reduce the chances of another financial crisis, a think tank has suggested.

The Institute for Public Policy Research said that Britain needed to “reset” the way it thinks about rising prices to break the “cycle of ever-rising house prices that drives property speculation”, which it argues crowds out investment in the “real economy”.

The think tank has suggested that the Bank should be given the right to set a target for house price inflation, as it does with consumer prices inflation.

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