The prime minister has responded to the growing crisis in the housebuilding sector with a £300 million package of measures to extend shared equity schemes for first time buyers and to enable Housing Corporation funds to be used to purchase private sector developments for social housing. The shared equity Homebuy scheme is now available to all first time buyers with household incomes below £60,000, rather than just key workers. But the industry has labelled the measures a drop in the ocean – the £200 million ring-fenced Housing Corporation funds would equate to just 800 homes at today’s prices – and has warned that the continuing impact of the credit crunch may be “beyond the government.”<br><br>While HBF is calling on government to give first time buyers a temporary stamp duty reprieve and take other fiscal measures to remove barriers to entry to the market, HBF economic affairs director John Stewart admitted: “At the moment, the two economic policy levers available are severely constrained. Monetary policy enacted by the Bank of England, ie cutting interest rates, is difficult because of rising inflation. And fiscal policy enacted by government is hamstrung because government itself has not got the money to splash around.” Council …