South-west affordability at near London levels

Posted: 08 Dec 2006 10:51:04 GMT

Affordability problems in the south-west of England have now reached a level that is only elsewhere found in London, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said.

Affordability problems in the south-west of England have now reached a level that is only elsewhere found in London, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said.

The south-east followed as the most challenging region of the UK to get onto the property ladder. Scotland was the most affordable part of the UK.

The foundation noted that even in the most affordable areas for housing there remained pockets of stark inequality between average incomes and house prices, however.

The number of areas of the UK where house prices are now more than five times the average annual wage for young households has doubled to 78 since 2004.

"The case has already been made for the supply of market and affordable housing needing to keep pace with levels of household formation to avoid more acute problems of affordability," said professor Steve Wilcox of the University of York.

"But with both house price and mortgage cost to income ratios at peak levels, additional assistance, in one form or another, is required for working households priced out of the market."

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