Mortgage affordability is the worst in two decades, according to new research.
The cost of both trying to
find a mortgage and running a
property are the worst since 1980, while
house prices are predicted to rise by 10 per cent in the next two years, the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors figures show.
The rise in house prices led to
mortgage accessibility becoming almost 300 per cent worse than in 1996, the institution claims.
A
first-time buyer couple currently need to
save up to the equivalent of 74 per cent of joint take home pay to build up the £29,200 needed for up front to find a mortgage and pay additional costs.
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors economist, David Stubbs, said: "Unless house building levels improve, and levels keep pace with population growth and rising income and wealth, people will continue to find it difficult to access the housing market."
"If the housing market is to become more accessible,
lenders must continue to offer generous funding levels and the government should, out of necessity, promote a significant increase in the housing stock."
Ray Boulger,
mortgage expert at John Charcol, recently stated that mortgage affordability is "not going to get any easier".
