Member Article

65% of towns unaffordable for key workers

Key workers cannot afford to buy houses in at least 65% of town in Great Britain, research by Halifax has found. Five years ago only 24% of houses were unaffordable. Nurses, teachers, police officers, fire fighters and ambulance staff are being priced out of the market, with average house prices in London 11.1 times the annual gross income for ambulance staff. In the North, average house prices in 2006 are 5.1 times the salary of fire services staff, 4.5 times that of police officers, 4.4 of teachers, 5.9 of nurses and 7.2 of ambulance staff. Affordability is worst in the South West, where the average house in all 34 towns surveyed is unaffordable for all five key worker groups. Greater London and the South East is the next most badly affected part of the country with 95% of the towns and boroughs surveyed unaffordable for all key worker groups. Scotland has seven of the ten most affordable places to live in Great Britain. Martin Ellis, Chief Economist at Halifax, commented: “Key workers have been hit hard by the strength of the property market over the past five years. Now it is difficult for key workers to buy the average house not only in the south of England but also in significant parts of the Midlands, northern England, Wales and Scotland. While flats are affordable for key workers in many towns outside southern England, it is becoming increasingly difficult for key workers to purchase a flat in many major cities including Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge and two thirds of London’s boroughs. It is important that the government continues to develop schemes to help key workers onto the property ladder and to ensure that these schemes are not confined to southern England. The presence of sufficient key workers is critical to the smooth functioning of life in our cities and towns.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .