This report looks at the ability and capacity of younger working households in every local authority area in Great Britain except the Isles of Scilly to buy their own home. It examines long term trends in housing market affordability, and related factors such as the relationship between housebuilding rates and household rates in different parts of the country. The results of the local level analyses of intermediate housing markets are set out. The research shows how, within London, affordability difficulties can be alleviated where households are prepared or able to move to cheaper areas. Some of the issues for policy which arise from the research are discussed in the report.

This is the fourth annual analysis of the affordability of local housing markets conducted for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The first analysis was developed during an earlier project funded by the Association of Local Government. The aim of the research is to provide evidence for regional and national housing policy.

The analyses take as a starting point the modelling undertaken by Professor Glen Bramley, but they differ from the initial modelling both in the selection of data and the detail of the methodology. Bespoke analyses of regional and local data were obtained from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the Expenditure and Food Survey, the Labour Force Survey and the Survey of Mortgage Lenders.

Over the last ten years it has become progressively more difficult for households to buy their own homes as house prices have risen sharply. A North-South divide in home ownership widened over the years 1996 to 2003, but in the years 2004-05 it began to narrow. Many households resolve the affordability dilemma by moving to a cheaper area in order to buy a home. This is easier to do in large cities with good transport links than it is in rural areas, and analysis of the intermediate housing market in London shows that prospects of buying can be improved for young households. The report concludes by discussing some of the policy implications of the research and makes recommendations for assistance for households priced out of the housing market, and for more information about the options available in the housing market.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Phone: +44 1904 629241
info@jrf.org.uk

03/12/2006

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Steve Wilcox

research

Urban Policy > Housing > Housing policy

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