Andy Sommerville, Director at Search Acumen, comments:
“Last week’s statistics on housing affordability proved just how disproportionate the gap between the average salary and house price has been over the past decade. Today’s ONS statistics reveal the first picture of the New Year and show us that the strong growth in UK house prices have little sign of easing. Average house prices in the UK have increased by 6.2 percent in the year to January 2017 – rising above December’s year-on-year growth – and will be leaving current homeowners celebrating whilst prospective buyers will be further deflated from their hopes of embarking on the housing ladder.
“The pressure on affordability is kicking in. HMRC’s data on property transactions, also released today, shows that activity in the residential market has dropped for the first time after rising for four consecutive months. Many are being outpriced and urgent measures are required to restore the confidence of the market and place our industry in a position of strength as we enter further periods of uncertainty and look ahead to the triggering of Article 50 next week. Funding and support announced in the Housing White Paper must be attended to with absolute efficiency in order to tackle the inadequacies of the UK’s housing market and support today and tomorrow’s generations in accessing the country’s bricks and mortar. ”
This article was submitted to be published by Search Acumen as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
