Government urged 'to help first time buyers'

23-Apr-2007

The government must act fast to mitigate the effects of rising house prices on first time buyers by building more affordable housing, homelessness charity Shelter has stated.

Calling on the government to create 20,000 new 'social rented homes' across the UK, Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson said that only immediate home creation schemes could tame the current "housing crisis" facing first time buyers.

"Buying a home is becoming an ever more distant dream for thousands of first time buyers," he warned, citing the charity's affordability index, which found that it is 93 per cent more difficult for first time buyers to get onto the property ladder than it was a decade ago.

Paying the mortgage consumed 21 per cent of the income of the average UK household in 2006 compared to just 11 per cent in 1996, it showed.

With 17,000 people having their homes repossessed after failing to meet mortgage repayments last year, the affordability crisis is pushing some homeowners over the edge, Mr Sampson cautioned.

Only social housing could give more families "the chance of a secure and permanent home", he stressed.

To find out about the different ways of financing a first home, see our section 'Affording Your First Home'.

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