Treasury Says Spending Review Will Focus On Housing

HM Treasury has announced it will focus on providing housing support and pump money into core public services in its next spending review. Elizabeth Truss, chief secretary to the Treasury, said this year’s spending review, which sets budgets from 2020 to 2023, would tackle the UK’s restrictive planning system where people which led to people spending a greater proportion of their income on housing than ever before. In a speech, she said: "In 1947 people were paying less than an eighth of their total expenditure on housing, now it’s over a quarter. And people who rent in London are spending half their income on rent.” Read more on the FTAdviser website.

https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2019/03/20/treasury-says-spending-review-will-focus-on-housing/

Mismatch Between Wages And House Prices Increases

Airline pilots,flight engineers, electronics engineers, rubber process operatives, energy plant operatives, and merchandisers and window dressers all have seen housing affordability improve over the past five years. These account for just 2 per cent of occupations. The figures, compiled by mortgage broker Private Finance and based on information from the Office for National Statistics, highlight the growing mismatch between wage rises and house price increases. While average earnings grew by just 9 per cent from 2011 to 2016, the average house price soared by 26.7 per cent, meaning the number of years’ earnings required to afford the average home increased from eight to 9.2. Read more on the FT Adviser.

First-Time Buyers Shrug Off Brexit Uncertainty

First-time purchasers accounted for a third (32 per cent) of all property sales in October, a 9 per cent increase on September and the highest figure since records began in 2000, according to the National Association of Estate Agents' (NAEA) latest Housing Market report. The last time sales to first-time buyers were this high was October last year, when they accounted for 31 per cent of sales. Demand for housing also rose, while the supply of available housing hit its highest level since March this year. Estate agents reported an average of 43 properties available per branch, an increase of 7.5 per cent on September and the largest figure seen this year. Read more on the FT Adviser website.

‘Affordable’ Housing Scheme Price Just 4% Lower Than Average

The average price paid for properties purchased under the various affordable housing schemes in Britain is £189,786, just 4 per cent lower than the £197,535 average for house purchases, according to the Halifax. Regionally, the highest average price paid by purchasers using affordable housing schemes is in London (£323,148), while the lowest is in the north (£147,437). First-time buyers remain the biggest beneficiaries of Help to Buy, accounting for 80 per cent of purchases over the last year - significantly higher than the 46 per cent of all mortgage financed home purchases made by first-time buyers over the same period. The average price paid by first-time buyers using the scheme is now £150,3611 - 10 per cent lower than the average price paid by first-time buyers for all housing. Read more on the FTAdviser website.