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First time buyers: ray of hope
A
new quarterly report from Halifax
aims to track first-time buyer affordability in 406 local authorities (LAs) by
examining the average earnings to average house price ratio...
A local authority is deemed to be affordable for first time buyers if the
house price to earnings ratio is 4.0 or under.
In the first edition of the report, Halifax found that FTB
affordability has "improved significantly" over the past 18
months.
The ratio has eased from a peak of 5.84 in July 2007 to 4.56 in November
2008, its lowest level since July 2003 (4.54).
The number of local authorities that are considered to be affordable jumped
from just 18 (four per cent) in 2007 to 57 (14 per cent) in 2008.
The largest increases in the number of LAs which have become affordable
between 2007 and 2008 have been in Scotland (from
30 per cent to 67 per cent) and Yorkshire & the Humber
(from 0 per cent to 40 per cent).
There were no increases in the number of LAs to become affordable in five
out of the 12 UK
regions. These were London, South West,
West Midlands, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In all of these local authorities, the average house price remains
unaffordable (ie above the 4.0 ratio) for those on average earnings.
Commenting on the report, Martin Ellis, Chief Economist at Halifax, says, "There
has been a marked improvement on housing affordability in many parts of the UK.
"First-time buyers, in particular, are benefiting, especially outside
the South of England and the Midlands. We
expect this trend to continue in 2009."
Source:
Find A Property
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