Cost of home in Yorkshire is now seven times the average wage

TENS OF thousands of extra homes are needed to address Yorkshire's affordable housing crisis as the average property now costs seven times a person's income, industry experts have warned.
Tens of thousands of extra homes are needed to address Yorkshires affordable housing crisis as the average property now costs seven times a persons income, industry experts have warned.Tens of thousands of extra homes are needed to address Yorkshires affordable housing crisis as the average property now costs seven times a persons income, industry experts have warned.
Tens of thousands of extra homes are needed to address Yorkshires affordable housing crisis as the average property now costs seven times a persons income, industry experts have warned.

A study by the National Housing Federation (NHF) published today has shown the average cost of a home in Yorkshire has risen for the sixth year in a row and rents are also continuing to soar.

The average home in the region now costs £181,740, which is seven times the average wage. An average full-time earner would need a pay rise of two thirds of their current salary to afford an average mortgage.

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In some high-value rural areas like Hambleton and towns including Harrogate, the affordability gap is even higher. Average house prices in Harrogate are more than 11 times typical earnings, the data shows.

Rents have also risen by seven per cent since 2013 and now cost an average £573 a month. In York, where earnings are below the national average at £26,666, the average private rent is above the national average at £866.

The figures are revealed as the Yorkshire and Humber Home Truths 2017/18 report is launched today at an event in Leeds, which will include speakers such as Professor Ed Ferrari, the director of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research.

One of the reasons for the growing crisis is down to a large shortfall of new housing, the NHF said. Between 2012 and 2016, almost 36,000 too few homes were built in Yorkshire, the figures show, with a particular shortage in growing cities such as Sheffield and Leeds.

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Sharon Squires, the federation’s external affairs manager for Yorkshire, said: “It’s worrying that house prices and rents in Yorkshire keeping going up while wages stagnate. This is making life increasingly difficult for people living and working in the region.

“The region desperately needs to increase the supply of new homes, for sale and for rent. Most importantly it needs to increase the supply of genuinely affordable housing. Housing associations have a key role to play in solving the housing crisis.”

The Government argued it was taking action to “fix the broken housing market” and build the properties the country needed.

A spokesman said: “Since 2010, more than 78,000 homes have been built across Yorkshire but there is a lot more to do. Through planning reform and targeted investment, we have an ambitious plan to get Britain building. We are getting more people on the housing ladder through schemes like Help to Buy and last year saw the highest number of first-time buyers in the UK since 2006.”