Britain tackles rising house prices

LONDON, June 14 (AFP): Britain's finance minister George Osborne has unveiled measures aimed at curbing London's surging house price inflation, as the Bank of England stands ready to finally raise interest rates.
It comes as Fitch on Friday affirmed its AA+ credit rating for Britain and gave it a "stable" outlook, citing the country's accelerating economic recovery.
In a keynote speech to business leaders delivered in the capital late on Thursday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne announced plans for up to 200,000 new homes and said he would strengthen the Bank of England's ability to impose restrictions on how much home buyers could borrow.
Osborne appeared to heed the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which recently warned that a lack of supply was fuelling Britain's price boom that is most pronounced in London.
Speaking alongside Osborne at the so-called Mansion House gathering, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the BoE could raise its main interest rate from a record-low level of 0.50 per cent sooner than expected.