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16/04/07 - UK Key
Workers Struggle to Buy Property |
Public sector workers
cannot afford to buy homes in seven out of 10 UK towns, reports the BBC…
Halifax arrived at its conclusions by dividing average regional property
prices by average annual wages.
It said property was most unaffordable in London and South-East England but
property costs were also racing away from wages in other parts of the UK.
North-South divide
Least affordable places to live:
Gerrards Cross, south east
Kensington & Chelsea, London
Weybridge, south east
Sevenoaks, south east
Westminster, London
Most affordable places to live:
Lochgelly, Scotland
Bellshill, Scotland
Clydebank, Scotland
Wishaw, Scotland
Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
The government said it had worked hard to help key workers buy homes.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said: "No government has done more to help
key workers; since 1997 almost 25,000 key workers have got their first step
on the property ladder through government shared equity and shared ownership
schemes."
Of 517 towns and local authorities surveyed by the bank, 363 (70%) were
deemed unaffordable. Halifax defined a town as unaffordable if the average
price of a house was more than 4.46 times the average wage of the workers -
it is also the average multiple of income a first-time buyer pays for a
property.
While most unaffordable towns were in London and the South East, Scotland,
the north of England and Wales were the parts of the UK with the most
affordable towns. But, even in those areas there are many towns where
property is unaffordable.
House inflation
In 2002, just over a third of towns were beyond the means of public sector
workers looking to buy property, last year that figure rose to 65%.
This reflects a rapid rise in UK house prices, which have doubled in the
last five years.
At the same time, wages across the economy have been increasing ahead of
inflation but not keeping pace with house price growth. In the past year,
according to both the Nationwide and Halifax, average UK house prices have
risen by about 10%.
Unions claim prospects for public sector workers may worsen in the near
future as the government aims to limit wage increases to below the rate of
inflation.
"Health workers are effectively being given a pay cut and the idea that they
can get on the property ladder is a non-starter for many," Anne Mitchell,
spokeswoman for the Unison trade union said.
"There is a real shortage of accommodation, both to rent and to buy, as
hospital trusts have sold off a lot of on-site nurses' accommodation."
However, public sector workers do enjoy some advantages over many private
sector workers.
They are often given preferential treatment by housing associations and have
access to government sponsored shared-ownership schemes.
Growing resentment
Helen Adams, chief executive of self-help website, FirstRungNow.com has
noted a growing resentment on the site's chatroom against public sector
workers.
"Many of my site users have a bit of a beef with public sector workers. They
see them going to the front of the line in new developments and given a
financial leg-up which is not available to them," Ms Adams said.
"They recognise that they do a necessary job but feel left out... they would
like something to be done for them too," she added.
But Ms Mitchell said that the advantages open to public sector workers were
overplayed.
"These shared ownership schemes are complex and you still have to find a
large mortgage. The average nurse starts on £19,000 and has course debts of
£5,500. Nurses are not able to move to expensive parts of the country," Ms
Mitchell said.
She added that other workers in the health care sector, such as hospital
porters and cleaners, are in a worse position as they earn less than nurses
and are often unable to take advantage of shared ownership schemes.
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