House prices ‘unaffordable’ for people earning less than £50,000
11-11-2015
News by Tom Wilson
First-time buyers need an income of at least £50,000 to get onto the property ladder, despite falling mortgage rates and government initiatives to support people buying their first home.
The average salary in the UK is just £22,000, less than half the amount needed to buy a property, according to research from GoCompare.com.
The link between earnings and house prices is most strained in the capital, where would-be-buyers need a household income of at least £140,000 to buy a flat, and £275,000 to buy a detached house, according to the comparison site. Brighton, Edinburgh, Bristol and Oxford all required incomes of more than £50,000 for first time buyers.
Of the 65 cities analysed in the report, only 14 had property prices that were affordable to someone earning an average income locally.
The most affordable city in the UK is Blackburn, almost ten times cheaper than London. Houses in the Lancastrian city are within the sights of someone earning £14,000, substantially lower than the local average income of £18,444. Hull, Blackpool, Grimsby and Stoke-on-Trent were all realistic prospects for someone looking for a flat on a £15,000 salary.
Ben Wilson, Gocompare.com spokesman, said: “The rapid rise in property value and a growing urban population is pricing many of the British public out of home ownership.
“London’s high prices are well documented, but it’s in other parts of the south of England that the gap between average salary and average house price is at its most alarming, with places like Brighton requiring a minimum household income of £180,000 to afford a detached house.”
Mortgage rates for first time buyers have steadily been falling over the last year. Interest rates on a two-year fixed mortgage at 90% LTV have fallen below 3% for the first time, according to Bank of England figures.