22 February 2005
Charity group Shelter has warned of an affordability crisis after research published in their magazine Roof revealed that mortgage payments as part of income was at its highest level for ten years.
The figures show that mortgage payments constituted around 20 per cent of income, the highest level since the housing boom of 1990. The research also contends that houses are 60 per cent less affordable than they were a decade ago.
Hardest hit by the rise in mortgage payments are first-time buyers whose payments are now 33 per cent higher than the average over the past twenty years.
Shelter says that there is not enough affordable housing to match demand, with the lack of provision most directly affecting low-income families.
Director of Shelter, Adam Sampson said: "The point of Roof's findings is that they show not only how difficult it is for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder, but that there will be extra pressure on the limited housing stock."
Only a massive affordable-housing programme will offer any long-term solution to the problem of affordability says Shelter. If the problem persists, they say, more and more families would be forced to seek temporary accommodation, a trend which would be accompanied by widening of social inequalities.
©2004, 2005
Weboptimiser Media Ltd & DeHavilland Information Services plc
Cut and paste this code:
![[Valid RSS]](http://www.ukmortgage-news.co.uk/images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed"){kind=small}
RSS explained
You should always validate an advertiser independently.
By Search engine marketing company Weboptimiser Media Ltd