Is An Englishman`s Home Still His Castle?

Back in the `80`s when I bought a house I paid around £16,500 for it and I think another £1,000 went on the associated expenses for the surveyors fees, estate agents fees and solicitors fees. I wasn`t on a great wage and so this was a substantial sum but the deposit I had to put down was only about £1,000 and the mortgage affordable and so I dipped my toe in the housing market

Fast forward to today and very few young people can even think about buying a house with the limit of their ambition being to find enough money to rent one. This is no surprise when you look at the figures. A house here in the North West even of the seriously run down variety will put you back around £70,000 at best, and as the banks are asking for extremely hefty deposits this means the chance of most young people getting on the housing ladder are slim to none and slims just left town.

If you can afford to purchase a house of the rundown variety of course you have to then get the house renovated which will again cost you a not inconsiderable amount. You may need new uPVC Windows and doors

We get the usual guff from the economic analysts, banks and politicians saying that a boost in housing prices is good for the economy and all of us but how can it be good for the ordinary working person if they can`t afford to buy one. I live in the North West which has some of the lowest housing prices in the country (unsurprising when you take a look at the housing stock) but if you live in a 50 mile radius of London the chances of purchasing a shed never mind a flat or house is remote. This can surely not be good for anyone?

We need to get back to affordable housing prices and get the banks to accept affordable deposits as downpayments. We need lots of brown field housing development and we need to improve and expand the number of rented accommodation available to our young people. If we don`t do this we are going to have generations of people who live with their parents for the best part of lives and that does not augur well for a healthy and stable society.