Crisis hits Yorkshire families as housing cost soars

The Government has been warned that it is failing to tackle the escalating problems as figures released today show that owning a home is no longer an option for many in the region.

The average house price in Yorkshire has risen to £161,466 – an increase of nearly £8,000 in just 12 months – while the average income is less than £19,700.

House prices in Yorkshire have risen faster than in any other region and almost four times faster than regional incomes in the past decade.

The National Housing Federation, which represents 1,200 housing associations across England, accused the Government of failing to have a coherent strategy to help alleviate the housing pressures.

The federation’s northern head, Derek Long, said: “It is difficult to imagine a bleaker picture than the one we have at the moment.

“Unfortunately the situation is only going to get worse because there are no signs that the economy is about to improve.

“A sophisticated 21st century economy needs to have a housing market that is functioning properly, and at the moment that is simply not happening.”

Official figures released yesterday by the Bank of England revealed the number of mortgage approvals for house purchases fell in September for the first time in six months.

Loan approvals decreased 2.6 per cent to just under 51,000 between August and September, in its first fall since April.

Meanwhile, the amount people borrowed on credit cards rose by £200m, after falling slightly the previous month.

Economists said the lending trends were evidence of the pain being felt by consumers as wages fail to keep pace with the rising cost of living.

The National Housing Federation’s annual Home Truths report has revealed house prices have risen by 136 per cent in Yorkshire in the past decade.

In North Yorkshire, which is the region’s most desirable location, the average cost of a home is £223,065, while the average wage is less than £20,000. The average cost of a property nationally is £240,033, although the figure is inflated by London and the South-East.

It now requires 2.1 times the average income in Yorkshire and the Humber – about £41,520 – to obtain a mortgage for the average property, even with a 10 per cent deposit.

Homelessness in the region rose for the first time in seven years during the last financial year. A total of 4,420 households were registered by local authorities as homeless in 2010/11, compared to 3,880 in 2009/10.

But the average wait for social housing in the region is now more than three times longer than a decade ago and stands at an average of 4.7 years.

Average rents in the private sector are also set to soar across Yorkshire by 19 per cent in the next five years.

According to the federation, only 8,950 new homes in the private and social sectors were built in the region in 2010/11.

The federation is now calling on the Government to restore £300m in annual funding to regenerate Yorkshire’s inner-city neighbourhoods.

The Department for Communities and Local Government admitted that more needs to be done to help revive the construction industry. But a spokesman pointed towards the New Homes Bonus, which will release thousands of acres of public land for development.

Coupled with £4.5bn for the Affordable Homes programme, the spokesman claimed up to 370,000 new homes will be delivered nationally over the next four years.

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