Housing more affordable for key public sector staff
Wednesday, 27 April 2011 02:05
More housing in the UK is now affordable for key public sector staff, Halifax research shows.
The findings reveal that over a third of towns in the UK are now within the price bracket of nurses, teachers, police officers, fire fighters and paramedics based on the house price to average earnings rate.
When house prices were at their highest in 2007 key public staff were only able to afford about three per cent of UK housing.
Despite more properties falling with a reasonable price band for these workers the majority of properties remain out of their reach.
In 2007 one per cent of towns were affordable for firemen but that figure is now 28 per cent today.
Nurses have seen a rise from seven per cent in 2007 to 22 per cent in 2011.
The UK towns that are most affordable include Nelson in Lancashire, Lochgelly in Fife and Bootle in Merseyside.
Commenting on the findings Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Halifax said: "In 2001, two-thirds of towns were affordable compared to just a third today.
Government schemes to assist low-cost home ownership are welcome, although it remains to be seen how big the impact on key workers will be."
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