LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The government is considering introducing 20-year fixed rate mortgages to help broaden home ownership, said Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The idea is part of a list of draft legislation Brown will present to parliament today. Education and health are his other priorities.
Brown conceded that house prices were "unaffordable for large numbers of people starting up and trying to get on the housing ladder".
"First of all we have got to build more houses. We have got to face up to the fact that we have been building too few houses in Britain," he told BBC radio.
He said the government was looking at a 20-year fixed-rate mortgage, and shared equity schemes to "bring it within the reach of people".
"We can make the system of housing more affordable by making changes both in the way that mortgages are structured and in the amount of houses that are built," he said.
Brown's statement will break with tradition by setting the draft legislative programme before the Queen's Speech - usually held in November.
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