Insurance News Archive

Houses 'most affordable for five years'

Properties are at their most affordable for first-time buyers in five years due to falling house prices, research shows.

Halifax - which conducted the study - says the ratio of average house prices to earnings has declined from a peak of 5.84 per cent in July last year to 4.56 per cent in November.

The number of local authority areas where people looking to step on to the property ladder can afford a home has trebled in 2008, Halifax's data indicates.

Martin Ellis, chief economist at the mortgage lender, said: "There has been a marked improvement in housing affordability in many parts of the UK."

Yorkshire, the Humber and Scotland have become the most affordable areas for first-time buyers on average incomes over the last year.

This week, Luke Bennett, founder and managing director of SW19, predicted that the housing market will "plateau" as people look to make a change in the new year by moving house.

31 Dec 2008