Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has recently drawn attention to the explosion in average house prices in his constituency, which are causing severe problems both for first time buyers and those who want to move further up the property ladder.
Recent statistics released by the National Housing Federation show that the price of the average Torbay house has rocketed from £68, 971 in 1998 to £188, 650 in 2008 – an increase of 182%. House prices are now around eleven times the average wage in the area, whereas at the start of the decade they were seven times the average Torbay wage.
Alongside this huge increase in recent years, buyers in the housing market have been further affected by the recession, which has increased the demand for affordable housing but reduced the supply of new homes.
Adrian commented: “This report by the National Housing Federation demonstrates the need for a different approach to affordable housing, especially in areas like Torbay where first time buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to get on the property ladder.
“The days of top-down Government targets should be consigned to the rubbish bin, especially where housing policy is concerned. Instead of the Government telling local authorities how many new homes need to be built, they should task them to conduct their own housing need survey in order to establish what kinds of homes need to be built. This information would allow local authorities to dictate their own local needs to developers, rather than outside developers largely deciding where, when and what sort of housing will be constructed”
This is good. Now that we are aware of the problem and where we are about to go then we should now think of the best housing solutions. Hopefully people will share a good deed in order for the whole nation to recover from what we have right now. Thanks for sharing and good luck.
Posted by: Mitch | 25/11/2009 at 12:13 AM