-The cost of servicing mortgages fell in September 2005 to 18.6 per cent of borrowers household disposable income compared to 18.7 per cent in August 2005 according to the monthly Woolwich Mortgage Affordability Research
- Annually the increase is up by 0.5 per cent from September 2004 (18.1 per cent) to September August 2005 (18.6 per cent)
-The East of England is the only region to show an increase up from 18.3 per cent (August 2005) to 18.4 per cent in September 2005
-The South-West shows the biggest improvement in affordability with a drop of 0.4 per cent from 18.8 per cent in August 2005 to 18.4 per cent in September 2005
Andy Gray, head of mortgages for the Woolwich said: "The interest rate cut in early August has finally started to filter through to peoples' pockets with the improvement in affordability in September. We expect this to continue to improve over the coming months, hopefully injecting confidence into the housing market as well as reassuring consumers in the lead up to Christmas."
At a regional level everywhere bar the East of England either improved affordability or stayed the same. The best improvement after the South-West was Yorkshire where the cost of servicing mortgages improved by 0.3 per cent from 16.6 per cent in August 2005 to 16.3 per cent in September 2005.
The Woolwich Mortgage Affordability Research monitors 1.3 million Barclays Group current accounts which have both income and mortgage payment activity on them each month. The scale and diversity of the sample gives a very good representation of mortgage affordability across England Wales.
