Open Property Group, a leading UK professional house buying company, has highlighted the persistent affordability issues facing aspiring homeowners, as house prices continue to rise faster than many incomes.
The company recently conducted an analysis of house price trends across England and found that, in the past year, property values have increased by at least 3% in every region except London, which was the only area to experience a slight decline.
Although average annual earnings across England have grown by 5.6% over the same period, the key question remains whether this is sufficient to significantly improve affordability for new and existing homeowners.
- Yorkshire and the Humber – house prices increased by 6.5%
- North East – house prices increased by 5.6%
- North West – house prices increased by 5.4%
- East Midlands – house prices increased by 4.2%
- West Midlands – house prices increased by 4.1%
- South West – house prices increased by 3.8%
- South East – house prices increased by 3.4%
- East of England – house prices increased by 2.9%
- London – house prices decreased by 0.1%
Jason Harris-Cohen, Managing Director of Open Property Group, which helps UK homeowners sell their properties quickly in any circumstances, stated:
**“While salaries are growing faster than house prices in some areas, affordability remains a challenge for many aspiring homeowners due to the persistent gap between income and property values.
“Open Property Group examined the ongoing rise in house prices across England, revealing that every region experienced growth over the past year, except London, where prices slightly decreased. House price growth in the Northern powerhouse regions continues to exceed those in the South, East of England and London and yields still look fairly attractive based on lower house prices in the Northern regions.
“Annual salaries increased by 5.6% overall, outpacing house price growth in certain regions like the North East (5.6%) and the North West (5.4%). However, in areas like Yorkshire and the Humber, where house prices rose by 6.5%, affordability remains constrained.
“Although wage growth in the private sector (6.0%) and public sector (4.1%) has been notable, the increasing cost of homeownership continues to outpace the budgets of many. The question remains: how much more can salaries grow to make owning a home truly affordable across the country, whilst house prices continue to grow broadly comparably?”
