The government does subsidise home owners through nearly a dozen different schemes[1], landlords through a dozen more[2], and the mortgage banks through another score[3], which is the reason why prices are very expensive indeed.

[1] freedom from capital gains tax, RTB, HTB equity loan, HTB mortgage guarantee, HTB ISA, Forces HTB, NewBuy, AFHOS, Shared Ownership Scheme, Key Worker Scheme, Home Ownership Scheme for Cripples, and that is just off the top of my head

[2] rent floors through LHA, tax deductability, ability to flip residence between first and second homes for zero cap gains tax, freedom from inheritance tax beyond the usual limit...

[3] state bailouts for all major banks, gurantees, QE, QE2, QE3, liquidity schemes, credit purchase schemes etc etc