The study included a range of difficulties faced by first-time buyers (FTBs) aged 20-39, trying to step onto the property ladder in every local authority of Great Britain in 2005.
The study involved both researching the intermediate products available to help FTBs who cannot afford to buy and the impact of relocating to another area of the UK as a means of coping with affordability problems.
With house price to household income ratios highest in London, access to home ownership is most problematic in the South West, but there were unaffordable ‘hot spots’ in all regions.
In 51 areas, more than two in five younger working households had incomes sufficient to pay a social rent without relying on housing benefit, but still could not afford to buy at the lowest house prices. The least affordable areas on this measure were Penwith, Carrick, South Buckinghamshire, Kerrier and Mole Valley.
However, the research also showed that many households can resolve the dilemma of affordability by moving to a cheaper area. This, the report said, was clearly easier in large cities with good transport links.
For example, in London, residents of Hammersmith & Fulham could move to cheaper housing in Hounslow, increasing the proportion of working households that could buy at the lower end of the market.
The opposite was the case in many rural areas, as small villages may be remote and poorly served by public transport.
Hugh Nichols, partner at Badbury Berkeley Mortgage Services, commented: “If you move to a cheaper area outside a larger city for affordability reasons, you are only going to increase your commuting time, travelling costs and you are also adding to green issues.
“There are more affordability issues on the horizon, but I have never yet met someone who could not afford to buy. People have to arrange their priorities and give up some of their lifestyle expenditure.”
