Gloom for south-east home-buyers

Wednesday, 05 March 2008 12:00

The challenges of buying a home in the south-east of England remain a huge problem despite the region's housing stock increasing in recent years.

Government figures show 34,600 homes have been added to the region's housing stock in 2006 to 2007, yet it remains the least affordable area of England to buy a home apart from London.

It means around 40 per cent of first-time buyers aged under 30 needed financial assistance to finance their house purchase in 2006, the Chartered Institute of Housing South East revealed at its annual conference and exhibition in Brighton this week.

The main problem, it explained, was affordability. The organisation unveiled figures which showed the ratio between the lowest house prices and lowest earnings in the first three months of 2007 was 8.94. This compared to 7.29 for England.

Richard McCarthy, director general of housing and planning at the Department for Communities and Local Government, said it aimed to increase housing stock by two million by 2016 and three million by 2020.

However, he pointed out difficulties facing the housing market following the credit crunch and plummeting levels of confidence were posing challenges.

Mr McCarthy said: "The number of housing starts was down and current housing market conditions were difficult and fragile - but the market has not imploded."

He said the government would continue to keep a close eye on the housing market to assess the long-term trends.

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