Full-Time Workers Pay 7.8 Times Earnings On Buying A Home

Latest ONS figures show full-time earners paying some 7.8 times their annual workplace-based earnings on buying a home in England and Wales in 2018. The stats have housing affordability in England and Wales staying at similar levels in 2018, following five years of decreasing affordability.At the local level, London boroughs had the widest range of estimated housing affordability – more than three times the range of any other region. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/full-time-earners-paying-7-8-times-their-earnings-on-buying-a-home/

Rents Soar Well Above Wages

Rents in England have soared at a rate well above earnings, leaving renters struggling to cope, analysis by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) shows. The CIH compared Office for National Statistics (ONS) data on rent rises between May 2011 and 2017 with data on rising wages from the Bank of England over the same period. It showed wages had risen by 10.4% across England, well below the 14.6% growth in rents. The worst affected area was London, where rents have soared 21.6% compared with wage growth of just 6.3%. Read more on Inside Housing.

Average House Price At 7.6 Times Annual Salary

Rising house prices now stand at an average 7.6 times the average annual salary, more than double the figure for 20 years ago, according to official figures. The new figures for housing affordability in England and Wales between 1997 and 2016 have been issued by the Office for National Statistics. They said the median price paid for a home leapt by 259% over this period, while median individual annual earnings could only manage a 68% rise. The ONS said housing affordability “has worsened in all local authority districts”. In 1997, house prices were on average about 3.6 times workers’ annual gross full-time earnings. Read more on the Guardian website.

Social Rents Have Increased Faster Than Earnings

Social housing rents have increased faster than earnings over the last 15 years, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report. The report into the housing market and policy in England said between 2001/02 and 2014/15 typical full-time earnings increased by 33% but typical rents for council properties increased by 79% and housing association rents increased by 72% in the same period. The NAO said different government departments can have “conflicting objectives”. An example was the introduction of the 1% rent reduction, announced by the Treasury, which reduced the ability of housing associations to scale up their development plans and might impact the Department for Communities and Local Government’s plan to build one million homes by 2020. Download the report from the NAO website.

Housing Association Bosses Earn More than David Cameron

Some 50 housing association bosses earn more than the prime minister, housing minister Grant Shapps said as he pledged to "shine a light" on salaries paid from the public purse. The information was released on the same day that the pay and perks of senior civil servants earning more than £150,000 (which is more than the prime minister) were published, in the first step of a pledge to remove the "cloak of secrecy" from government information. Highlighting a top salary of almost £400,000 a year, Shapps said the executives running the arms-length bodies which manage council housing should be subject to the same scrutiny. The figures, which relate to last year, showed the highest-paid was former Anchor chief executive John Belcher. Read the full on The Guardian website by clicking on the logo below.