Families and young people priced out of rural areas, says report

Wed, 26 Apr 2006

With a booming rural property market, many families and young people living in the countryside find themselves unable to get a mortgage, reveals a new report.

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the proportion of affordable housing being built in rural areas is much smaller than the level of subsidised housing in urban places.

It also reports that house building levels are falling in the countryside, while again levels are rising in the towns and cities.

The number of council homes available to rent has also been reduced by the Right-to-Buy sales of council housing, with the proportion falling by 36 per cent since 1980.

All these factors are contributing to young people and young low-income families being unable to get a foothold on the property ladder, while their counterparts in urban areas are having far greater opportunities of securing a mortgage.

These first-time buyers or low-income families are also being pushed out of the property market by pressures on the current available housing. With retired people, commuters and second home purchasers being prepared to pay higher prices for properties, other mortgage hunters are being squeezed out of the market.

The foundation has, therefore, set out a number of demands. Among many things it is calling for the provision of more housing for the intermediate housing market, for those who can't afford to buy but earn too much to get social housing.

It also calls for the better use of existing housing and the investment in social house building to be doubled.

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