BoE's Bean says Help to Buy can be tweaked if need be
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government can raise the fees charged to mortgage lenders if its Help to Buy scheme pushes up house prices rather than increasing supply, Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean said on Tuesday.
The BoE is charged with reviewing the recently launched scheme in September 2014, but many economists have already said that the aid it offers to home-buyers unable to afford large deposits may simply push up house prices, rather than encourage housebuilding.
Bean, speaking to London's Society of Business Economists, said he did not see a house price bubble, but that if Help to Buy did cause a surge in prices, then mortgage lenders could be charged more for government insurance on lending to riskier borrowers.
He also said that it was "reasonable" that recent stronger British economic data had raised British government bond yields.
(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Patrick Graham)
