Dutch gov't not intend to boost housing market yet

BRUSSELS, Dec. 5 (Chinese media) -- Dutch Housing Minister Eberhard van der Laan

has made it clear that the government currently has no plans to adopt any

measures to boost the sluggish housing market, Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad

reported Thursday.

Van der Laan, who was appointed the minister of housing, communities and

integration last month following the resignation of Ella Vogelaar, said in a

letter to the Dutch Parliament Thursday that "the situation in the housing

market does not yet warrant revision of the existing instruments", the report

said.

Some members of the parliament had asked the government to take measures to

restore confidence in the market. The sale and construction of new homes is

stagnating due to the financial crisis.

Rabobank, the Netherlands' largest mortgage lender, said recently that

house prices may fall by 10 percent to 20 percent in the foreseeable future.

Van der Laan's predecessor Vogelaar had earlier said the government was

working on a plan to support the housing market. Insiders said the measures

include giving the building sector easier access to credit, extending the

national mortgage guarantee scheme to more house buyers, and a reduction in

conveyance tax.

Van der Laan said in Thursday's letter that the government would neither

cut the property transfer tax nor raise the national mortgage guarantee ceiling

from 265,000 to 350,000 euros (334,000 to 441,000 U.S. dollars).

But van der Laan said the government would consider stimulus measures "if

the situation in the housing market deteriorates in the coming months more

severely than a normal economic downturn."