Average House Price Is Now Eight Times The Average Wage

Analysis from the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals that in 2000 the average house price was 3.96 times the average income, whereas last year it was 7.72 times the average wage. The LGA is calling for an urgent investment in house-building and infrastructure, to deliver the genuinely affordable homes the country needs. Councils approve nine in 10 planning applications but restrictions on their ability to borrow to invest in new housing are holding them back, and the LGA is calling for these to be lifted. The last time the country built the amount of homes a year it needs, in the 1970s, 40 per cent of new homes were built by local authorities. Last year, councils lost more homes through the Right to Buy scheme than were started in the last five years. Read more on the LGA website.

One In Four Help To Buy Homes Went To People Earning More Than DOUBLE The Average Wage

One in four people who benefited from the Government's flagship Help to Buy scheme earned more than double the average wage, figures reveal.   The scheme was designed to help low income households get on the housing ladder but the latest statistics have laid bare its failure to meet its objectives. Nearly 3,500 households earning more than £100,000 benefited from the taxpayer-funded scheme.  And one in five Help to Buy homes even went to people who already owned a property.  Read more on the Daily Mail website.

How Tough It Is Being A Member Of Generation Rent

Generation Rent is ever-growing: the number of households under the age of 35 in the private rented sector rose by more than one million over the past decade. Also rising are rent prices - while wages are not keeping up.  Rents in Great Britain rose by 2.3pc in the year to September; the hike in stamp duty for landlords in April caused a surge in purchases and a subsequent glut of rental properties on the market which have kept rental prices stable. In London, rents are running far away from average wages, which are still below the level in 2011. Tenants in the capital spend on average two-thirds of their income on rent, up from half six years ago. By 2025, 60pc of Londoners will be renters - compared to 40pc in 2000. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

Mayor Claims Shared Ownership Has Helped 52,000 People On The Property Ladder

The Mayor of London has been singing the praises of shared ownership as a means for getting people on modest incomes on the housing ladder. More than 52,000 people have moved into more than 36,000 homes as a result of the Mayor’s First Steps scheme, it is claimed. The scheme is aimed at “low and medium income Londoners” and is designed to help them buy a home at a lower cost than buying in the same neighbourhood on the open market. One aspect of the scheme is to reduce the deposits needed to buy, with down payments from as little as £5,000 being available through the scheme, though deposits typically average £13,000. Average household wages of people accessing the scheme are £37,000. Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Rents Eat Up More than Half of Earnings in 17 London Boroughs

A growing number of people renting in the private sector in London are seeing the cost of their home eating up more than half of their earnings, Labour has warned. Official figures show that average weekly rents are more than 50 per cent of average local wages in 17 boroughs across London, from Kensington and Chelsea to Haringey, Merton and Barnet. The figures compiled by the Commons Library compared average weekly rents in each borough to the average local weekly earnings. Read more on the Evening Standard website.