Shelter slams housing ‘lock-out’

Published 17th Apr 2008

New research has revealed the shocking truth about the problems faced by FTBs…

According to a new survey by Shelter, house prices for first-time buyers have soared by more than 200% during the past decade. People taking their first step on to the property ladder paid an average of £159,494 for a home last year, compared with around £52,674 in 1997, according to housing charity Shelter.

Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson, commented: “The situation is even worse in London, with the average cost of first-time buyer properties in the capital jumping by 250% to nearly £260,000 over the past 10 years.

“The average first-time buyer home cost 3.4 times average earnings at the end of last year, double the ratio of 1.72 in 1997. The average monthly mortgage repayment has also soared by 172% from £304.80 to £827.87, taking up 21% of the average working household's income, compared with just 12% a decade earlier.

“As a result, it is now 78% harder for first-time buyers to get on to the property ladder than it was 10 years ago. This means a generation of young people are being locked out of the housing market. These new figures show in full the true and worsening situation first-time buyers find themselves in. Every year the gulf between what first-time buyers can afford and the cost of housing is widening.

"And despite falling house prices, many lenders are increasing their mortgage rates, making an already desperate situation worse."

Source: ' Move Channel Ltd '

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