• Without the Royal Bank of Mum & Dad it’s almost impossible for young people to borrow enough to get on the housing ladder. The average age of a first time buyer in the UK who isn’t getting money from their relatives to buy, is now 37!
• British houses are very expensive. House prices rose for the seven month in a row in February 2010 and are now 9.9% higher than they were in April 2009. According to Rightmove, the average asking price for a house in the UK is £222,261.
• As unemployment rises and pay increases fail to keep up with rising house prices, buying your first house becomes even harder. The latest figures from the Halifax say average house prices are now 4.9 times larger than average incomes. A year ago, it was only 4.3 times larger.
• 67% of mortgage lenders expect to see a rise in repossessions in 2010 – even people who have made it onto the property ladder are finding it difficult to meet the mortgage repayments
• A record 4.5 million people are already on waiting lists for affordable housing. But the number of planned affordable homes built over the next 10 years could be halved by government spending cuts. The government has promised three million new homes by 2020 - a third "affordable" below market rates. But the Chancellor’s pre-Budget report suggested the housing budget could be cut by 17.98% which would mean 556,000 affordable homes would not be built
• There is no alternative to the private rented sector because there isn’t enough council housing for people to live in. Between 1988 and 2006, the number of council houses fell by 18% - thanks to right to buy and a slowdown in number of new council houses being built.