NHF: Generation locked out of broken market as Londoners need £87,000 salary to buy average price property, report shows
Wednesday, 16 November 2011 2:14 PM
The average Londoner would need to triple their salary to £87,000 to buy an average price property in the capital, according to a report launched Wednesday by the National Housing Federation.
‘Home Truths London’ shows that the average property costs £408,384 with the average income at £27,128. A salary of £87,511 is needed to obtain a 75% mortgage with the deposit alone topping £100,000.
Federation assistant director Kate Dodsworth said: “An entire generation has been locked out of a broken market. The housing crisis should dominate next year’s mayoral election as Londoners face their own Olympian struggle to find a home they can afford.
“We need a reformed planning system that supports the building of affordable homes and the use of suitable surplus public land to build on. Ministers should make a renewed commitment to building the homes we need and identify housing as a key driver for economic activity. The battle to house London is being lost every day and the only answer is more affordable homes.”
Launched at the House of Commons, Home Truths also showed:
- The average house price-income ratio is 15.1, meaning that Londoners would have to save every penny of pre-tax salaries for 15 years to buy the property
- Buying a lower value home - a property in the bottom 25 percent of prices - requires an average salary of £46,000
- Only four London boroughs have an average house price under a quarter of a million pounds (Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Newham, Waltham Forest). Barking and Dagenham is the only borough under £200,000
- Over 800,000 Londoners are on the social housing waiting list with 237,000 households living in overcrowded conditions, causing great misery at a time when housing benefits are being slashed and unrealistic caps imposed
- The average cost of a home in Kensington & Chelsea is now £1.24m, up £210,000 on the previous year, and more than five times the price of a home in the Olympic borough of Newham
- Private sector rents have risen 30% since 2008 and are expected to rise by a further 20% in the next 5 years.
- Dodsworth said: “London has become unaffordable for ordinary hardworking Londoners who have no realistic chance of buying their own house, triggering even greater demand for good social housing or a desperate search for a home in the more expensive private rented sector. The need for new social rented family housing has never been greater.”
Notes for Editors:
1. For more information on individual boroughs, or to request an interview, please email brian.church@housing.org.uk or call 07979 592823.
2. The report can be downloaded from www.housing.org.uk/london from Wednesday 16 November. Hard copies are available on request.
3. Prices are based on complete annual figures for 2010 as published by the Department of Communities and Local Government from Land Registry data.
4. The National Housing Federation is the voice of affordable housing in England. We believe that everyone should have the home they need at a price they can afford. That’s why we represent the work of housing associations and campaign for better housing. Our members provide two and a half million homes for more than five million people. And each year they invest in a diverse range of neighbourhood projects that help create strong, vibrant communities.
5. Average house prices for London boroughs based on complete annual figures for 2010 were the following (2009 in parentheses):
Kensington and Chelsea - £1,246,588 (£1,036,158)
Westminster - 829,401 (736,691)
Camden - 714,133 (601,094)
Hammersmith & Fulham - 616,506 (553,381)
Richmond upon Thames - 48,376 (509,330)
City of London - 515,769 (453,512)
Wandsworth - 493,416 (459,342)
Islington - 479,414 (415,206)
Barnet - 442,468 (380,868)
Merton - 431,130 (365,097)
Haringey - 394,416 (350,646)
Southwark - 376,780 (339,256)
Kingston upon Thames - 375,133 (327,609)
Lambeth - 367,940 (337,009)
Ealing - 351,037 (330,163)
Hackney - 346,012 (314,322)
Tower Hamlets - 345,850 (333,241)
Brent - 345,643 (322,904)
Hounslow - 342,764 (314,128)
Harrow - 331,136 (290,358)
Bromley - 327,495 (301,800)
Greenwich - 295,684 (264,426)
Redbridge - 286,011 (256,857)
Enfield - 283,783 (266,899)
Hillingdon - 282,419 (256,124)
Sutton - 265,461 (240,045)
Lewisham - 264,250 (239,766)
Havering - 256,712 (224,545)
Croydon - 254,688 (234,332)
Waltham Forest - 236,913 (220,300)
Bexley - 226,817 (209,495)
Newham - 220,143 (202,795)
Barking and Dagenham - 179,178 (167,053)
Brian Church
Communications Officer
London, South East and East of England
National Housing Federation
Tel: 020 7067 1042
Mob: 07979 592823
Fax: 020 7067 1018
brian.church@housing.org.uk
The National Housing Federation is the voice of affordable housing in England. We believe that everyone should have the home they need at a price they can afford. That’s why we represent the work of housing associations and campaign for better housing.
Our members provide two and a half million homes for more than five million people. And each year they invest in a diverse range of neighbourhood projects that help create strong, vibrant communities.
For more information please visit www.housing.org.uk/london
Housing associations are 'iN business for neighbourhoods'. They have made fresh commitments to neighbourhoods, customers and excellence. For more information see www.inbiz.org
Registered Address:
Lion Court
25 Procter Street
London
WC1V 6NY
Registered Number: 302132
