The FCA’s Mortgage Market Reforms: A Stiff Drink for the Housing Market?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided that mortgage stress testing rules could do with a rethink - presumably after realising that even people with perfectly respectable finances were being told they couldn't afford a mortgage but could, apparently, afford years of paying rent at twice the price.

With affordability stretched, the housing market slowing, and lenders clutching their stress tests like a security blanket, the FCA is now suggesting a bit of flexibility might not be the end of the world. Will this move breathe life into the mortgage market, or are we just setting up for another round of boom and bust? Let’s take a look, shall we?