General Discussion
Click on this link http://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2015/sep/02/unaffordable-country-where-can-you-afford-to-buy-a-house
And then place the cursor just below Exeter so that Dawlish shows.
You will see that the median house price in Dawlish in 2014 was £185,000
This is 7.4 times your salary if you earn £25,000 pa
And is 13.2 times your salary if you are on a minimum wage of £14,000pa
Two interesting items on the news this evening 1 we are the most populated country in Europe and 2 we are building less than half the houses that are required to keep up with the population increase its only going to get worse people so get used to it.
I saw that leatash but the housing we need more than anything is social becauseas Lynnes link shows 99% is not affordable
Yes we should be building social housing and lots of it and they should be built by local authorities but will it ever happen i doubt it at least not under this goverment.
Yes I agree that this government's philosophy is that we should be a nation of owner occupiers. I do not have a problem with people being owner occupiers - I am one myself!
In fact I am all for people being able to buy their own property if they wish so to do.
Thing is though, that many young people cannot do that. Cameron is proposing that first time buyers under the age of 40 should be able to buy brand new homes @20% below market level. Whilst that will help some, unfortunately many others will still be unable to buy their own home.
Look at the figures for Dawlish shown in the first post on this thread.
So..... how will the new dwellings due to be built in Dawlish help those in need of a home but who are not in a financial position to buy?
Just took a look at the property for sale pages in this week's Gazette. All the property I list below is resale (ie not new build).
8 x Two bed flats in Dawlish
£240,000, £159,950, £119,950, £185,000, £215,000, £144,950, £215,950, £182,500
7 x Two bed houses in Dawlish
£167,500, £115,000, £172,500, £139,950, £135,000 (HA shared ownership), £175,000, £159,950
Come April 2016 the government's new living wage of £7.20 per hour will come into effect.
If someone earnt that amount per hour and worked a 40 hour week then their salary would be £14,976 pa.
Let's call that £15,000.
The cheapest flat shown above is £119,950. Let's call that £120,000.
So that flat costs 8 times that person's salary.
The cheapest house shown above is £115,000. That's just shy of 8 times that person's salary.
I do wonder how young people will manage to ever leave home. I can't see them doing it unless they meet someone and/or save a lot of money for a lot of years. I've noticed where I live that children are staying with their parents longer and longer. One family has 3 generations living together plus other family members, I wonder how everyone squeezes in.
Social rented housing is required and as has been said above it just doesn't seem to be on this or any other goverment's agenda. Not everyone wants to settle down and live in their own bought house for ever and ever from a young age.
The Govt. want HAs to take over the responsibility for building social housing.
They're not doing a bad job of it but need more public money.
By definition a HA is not-for-profit so only has limited resources of its own to plough back in annually.
This is the situation as I see it.
Affordable housing provision is already going up the swanney due to recent government legislation (HA rents no longer going up in line with inflation and actually falling therefore the amount of money HAs can borrow against their rents is substantially less than it has been hitherto). Therefore HAs have less money to buy housing from developers/build their own homes. This situation about to be aggravated even more by Planning & Housing Bill whereby local authorities not able to insist on S106 agreements for affordable rented and intermediate housing (for example shared ownership). Gov. in process of redefining affordable housing as = 20% below market price starter home scheme
Just to point out that the (minimum) living wage of £7.20 per hour wef April 2016 only applies to those aged 25 and over.
So if you are under that age the prospect of owning your own home may be even more out of reach than for those aged 25+.
How times have changed.
I can remember back in the 60s when lots of couples got married around about the age of 21/22, and were able to take out a mortgage in order to meet the cost of buying their first home. I think building societies used to offer mortgages at 2.5 x of the salary of one of the couple plus 1x of the other one.
You are absolutely right Lynne. Even in the seventies couples could get a mortgage on 2.5 x the main salary and 1x the second salary. And those that could not afford a mortgage could expect a council house within a few years, not decades, as is the case now!! Where did it all go wrong?