Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, yesterday unveiled a package of measures designed to breathe life into Britain's moribund housing market, as he embarked on a month-long effort to revive his faltering premiership.

But the measures - costed by the government at £1.6bn ($2.85bn, €2bn) - were deemed by property experts as insufficient to stem the collapse in house prices, which has fuelled voter anxiety and hostility to Mr Brown's government.