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For young professionals and low to middle income families alike, high house prices, rising rents and a lack of affordable housing are making living in Wiltshire harder than ever. That’s the warning from the National Housing Federation as it publishes a new report today (Wednesday 2 November 2011). Around 7000 of GreenSquare's homes are in the South West.

South West Home Truths 2011 is being launched at a special reception at the Palace of Westminster, hosted by North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson. MPs and Councillors will hear a keynote speech by National Housing Federation Chair, Lord Matthew Taylor. Among them are Devizes MP Claire Perry and South West Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison.

Our South West Home Truths 2011 report warns of ‘a broken housing market’, with the average home in the region costing £228,940 - nearly 12 times the average South West wage of £19,713. With house prices having increased three times faster than incomes in the region over the past decade, they now cost 15% more than in 2005 and 116% more than in 2000.

In Wiltshire, the average home costs £244,345 – more than 12 times the average individual income of £20,197, putting home ownership on the open market out of reach for many in the county, with even homes at the lowest quartile level costing £154,000. Furthermore, the gross annual income needed to secure a mortgage in Wiltshire stands at £52,360. Even in Swindon, the average home costs £173,426, over eight times the local individual income of £21,382. With private sector rents also on the increase, saving for a deposit is also becoming even harder.

NB: The affordability ratio is the house price divided by individual average income.

It’s not surprising then that, with such demand, affordable housing is feeling the strain, with 10,654 households in Wiltshire on social housing waiting lists in 2010. In Swindon that figure stands at 12,035 households waiting in 2010, an increase of 1,595 from 10,440 in 2009.

In rural parts of the South West the average home costs 13 times the average local income, and around a third of the South West’s population live in small market towns or villages – the highest proportion of any region. However, according to a Federation poll, 81% of them believe local families and young people are being forced out of the countryside by high house prices.

Across the South West, the ‘affordability gap’ could well be set to worsen as the gulf between supply and demand is continuing to grow. In total 13,220 new homes were built in the region in 2010/11 – enough to house just 48% of new households expected to have formed in the year.

Looking ahead, Government projections suggest the number of households in the South West will increase 30% by 2033. Despite this growing need and the rise in social housing waiting list numbers, South West local authorities have axed over 106,000 planned homes since the abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies in 2010. In Swindon and Wiltshire 16,600 planned homes have been axed.

To fix the broken housing market, the National Housing Federation is calling on the government to:

• Make a renewed commitment to building the homes we need at scale
• Identify housing as a key driver for economic activity
• Deliver a reformed planning system that supports the building of affordable homes, ensuring private developers continue to build social housing on sites of private development through the use of planning gain
• Ensure that councils undertake robust housing needs assessments on which to base future development plans.

Jenny Allen, South West Lead Manager for the National Housing Federation said: ‘This year’s Home Truths report shows that - despite a deep recession - house prices in the South West remain out of reach for thousands of households across the region – including Wiltshire.

‘Throughout the wider South West, as unemployment is on the up and benefits are set to be slashed, private sector rents also look set to rise. To cap it all, we’ve also seen the first increase in homelessness since 2003 - a 10% rise with more than 3,200 households accepted as homeless by local councils in the South West in 2010/11.

‘Lack of supply is at the root of the problem. Ministers need to act now to implement a range of measures to turn the tide on the current housing crisis, ensuring that homes continue to be built at scale in the region, that affordable housing options remain, and that housing is properly regulated across all sectors.’

• View the full report here

[published online 2/11/11]