Average house price 'set to approach £300,000

Posted: 18 Jul 2006 10:15:20 GMT

A new report by Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF) suggests that the average home will cost almost £300,000 by 2011.

Commissioned by the National Housing Federation (NHF), the report argues that it could soon be almost impossible for first-time buyers to make it onto the property ladder, with house prices rising much more quickly than wages.

The average property in England was valued at £195,000 at the beginning of 2006, but experts from the OEF estimate that this will have risen to around £290,000 in five years' time.

Daniel Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, stressed that the affordability issue has become a growing concern.

"Crisis is an over-used word but I make no apology for using it," he said. "We are already in crisis and this report shows that things will get worse."

Mr Orr added that there is already evidence of people stretching their finances beyond reasonable expectations to purchase a home.

"Over the next five years home ownership will be pushed further out of the reach of middle earners and even those on relatively high incomes," he said.

He also predicted that 80,000 new houses will be needed each year if house prices are to be kept under any kind of control.


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