Gordon Brown is looking to America in order to reform Britain's mortgage system.

Speaking to today's Times, the chancellor's new mortgage adviser, David Miles, said using some aspects of the American loans culture could calm Britain's housing market without harming the mortgage industry.

"The US is a very sophisticated market and a very large proportion of mortgage loans are on long-term fixed rates," Miles said.

"There is a lot of activity there with people re-mortgaging and moving around. It is not the case that once you have a market with lots of fixed rates it is uncompetitive and moribund.

"The standard product in the US is a 25 or 30-year fixed rate loan with no pre-payment penalty. That is a product not seen much in the UK, and I want to look at whether there are any obstacles to developing that sort of market here."