UK Money News
30th January 2008
Housing market 'less accessible'
Britain's housing market has been growing steadily less accessible over the last 12 years and it is now 351 per cent harder to get a foot on the property ladder than it was in 1996.
That is the message from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), which found that a couple on lower quartile earnings would need to save 104 per cent of their combined annual income to afford the buying costs.
Stamp duty, the deposit and various fees have rocketed in relation to take-home pay, largely as a result of the boom in house prices.
In 1996, the same couple would need to put away just 23 per cent of their earnings to fund a move.
"At the start of 2008, first-time buyers are finding it even harder to get a foothold on the housing ladder and the signs are that conditions are unlikely to get better in the short term," said Rics senior economist David Stubbs.
"Mortgage lenders are demanding ever higher deposits as the credit crunch continues to take effect."
Interest rates could fall next month and if combined with slow or even negative house price inflation, might improve the situation for first-time buyers.
But the credit crunch is encouraging lenders to be cautious, meaning they are less likely to offer the kinds of deals homebuyers have become accustomed to over the last decade.
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