Grim down south

Posted: 12 Jan 2007 11:39:51 GMT

People living in the north of the UK are now better able to afford homes than those in the more affluent south, according to new research by mform.co.uk, the mortgage advisors

People living in the north of the UK are now better able to afford homes than those in the more affluent south, according to new research by mform.co.uk, the mortgage advisors.

The national average for people owning or paying mortgages is 65 per cent, but in London this figure drops to 61 per cent.

Numbers of home-owners in Yorkshire and Lancashire are high with around 70 per cent on the housing ladder.

However, in Scotland only 30 per cent of homes are owner occupied and in 70 per cent of these Scottish establishments, mortgages still need to be paid off.

Eamonn Rice, the chief executive of mform.co.uk remarked: "The north-south divide is traditionally about the well-off south and the poor north."

"But in home ownership it is the south – and particularly London – which is suffering," Mr Rice continued.

A survey of Yorkshire and south east busineses reported in the York Press this week also suggested that quality of life and cost of living were seen as being better in North Yorkshire than the south east region.


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