Housing affordability has deteriorated to near record lows, with homes five times more expensive for first-time buyers than in 1996, new figures show.
Buyers in the southeast and southwest of England have to save over 100 percent of their annual earnings for a deposit to get a foothold on the property ladder, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) accessibility index. This compares with the low point of just 20 percent of annual earnings required in 1996 .
The cost of becoming a homeowner rose by 8.4 percent alone in the year to the second quarter of 2007.
Even if prospective first time buyers make it onto the market, they face mortgage payments which take up a higher percentage of their take-home pay than at any time since 1990.
No longer is the Thatcherite dream of a house-owning nation achievable . For many simply acquiring a roof over ones head is proving a nightmare .
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Update from Halifax:-
ReplyDelete"Negative real earnings growth in the first six months of this year, and rising food prices, are also reducing the income households have available for housing."
Also higher level of interest rates has been eating into most people's take home incomes.
The average house price in the UK has almost reached £200,000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6979353.stm