WELWYN Hatfield MP Grant Shapps has said he wants the housing market to become “boring”.

The housing minister also said the Coalition Government would take steps to ensure market stability, but stopped short of saying it would be regulated.

“It’s not desirable to have government fixing prices,” he said.

“It’s an aspiration that a more stable market would be better.”

The Welwyn Hatfield MP told the WHT that having house prices “yo-yo around” wasn’t in anyone’s interest.

He said the Government has acted in providing incentives for building new homes and keeping interest rates low by attacking the structural deficit.

Mr Shapps insists keeping interest rates low is the key factor in helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder.

He said the Government had introduced the new homes bonus where the council tax raised on each new house would be matched for six years.

He said the aim was to encourage local authorities to build more homes by letting them keep the extra cash.

In a speech to the Housing Market Intelligence conference, in London last Tuesday, Mr Shapps spoke about his opposition to the then Labour Government’s imposition of 10,000 new homes in Welwyn Hatfield, in the ‘No Way to 10k’ campaign.

But he said “it would transform the debate, if the regeneration of Hatfield’s town centre could be paid for through the new homes bonus”.

Mr Shapps also blamed the previous Government’s “�5bn-a-year raid” on pensions for fuelling increased investment in property to fund retirement.

He said: “The best reason to buy a house is to live in it.”