Housing in South West now 11.6x average salary

Graham_Devon

doire wrote: »

I could link an article which states its 38 but why bother eh? The good old BBC are always right

The same BBC link splits the figures. Again, this is an average thats classed as OK, but if you break it down, the average age without the bank of mum and dad is approaching 40.....it's in the very same BBC link.

Like I say, some averages are fine. Average age of FTB = 31....good, use it, don't question is. Average salry = X, good, assume everyone earns that or more. Average house price....no no no, these average people are not average now!!

Niv

lostinrates wrote: »

I would have thought especially there would be affordable housing in the county town, same as here in Wiltshire, there is a lot of affordability around the countil town of Trowbridge. It seems to be a bit of a feature of county towns in fact...that they have a large number of services and often provision for service users....including lots of housing in comparison to much of the rest of the county.


Are there stats about this and also incomes in smaller breakdown than county? Like in Somerset, can you compare Sedgemoor to Medip and south for example? (what are the other bits called?) It could be interesting. My guess is, for example, Taunton is better provision for lower cost housing than Bath and North east somerset, with more commutabilty potential up there might have higher average income?

I especially singled out Taunton as it is concidered a nice place to live so didnt want to be accused of just picking the 'rubbish' areas. I looked allover tbh.

I have not found a detailed stat breakdown of the different areas of the conty (Sedgemoor etc) but I have looked at areas all over the county and there are the 'average' houses there if you simply look. Also bear in mind that for sale price is rarly the price a house sells for, it is common to get it for less than advertised.

Niv

Graham_Devon

Niv wrote: »

Well I have looked at various areas accross Somerset (part of the southwest but I agree is not the whole of the SW) and found 3 bed houses all over the county. So it would not matter where I worked I would be able to find an 'average' home well within 80miles.

I did not see a link to your report in the OP, care to link so I can have a read myself?

Niv

Sure
http://www.housing.org.uk/our_regions/south_west_region/south_west_news/idoc.ashx?docid=f8fe9e95-195d-4ef3-a3ad-dd3cdeaeb25f&version=-1

Sedgemoor is 10.2x average wage.

The article DOES highlight average lower value house prices, if people wish to talk about average income vs lower value housing.

For the southwest, the average income vs lower value housing is 7.35x, if that's a more preferable scenario?

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Average age of FTB = 31

Except in Scotland.

Where it's 28.

Idiophreak

doire wrote: »

I could link an article which states its 38 but why bother eh? The good old BBC are always right

Apology accepted.

Graham_Devon

Cleaver wrote: »

Good post. I'd like to think my example was quite realistic though.

Yours was.

Until a kid pops along and one finds, at best, they can't work as much, or can work as much but now have childcare to pay for so can't contribute as much to the mortgage!

I know the kids thing is seen as an excuse, wanting it now, etc. But people do have kids. Many people do. I'd even go as far as stating the majority do. So I do feel it should be a discussion point.

Cleaver

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Yours was.

Until a kid pops along and one finds, at best, they can't work as much, or can work as much but now have childcare to pay for so can't contribute as much to the mortgage!

I'm sure my example covered kids!

Graham_Devon

And moving on to conrads point (as I've been pulled up by Hamish for leaving and not answering - sorry, was working).

Although the article seems to ignore the areas in Cornwall, the average wage is just 17,628. EVEN looking at your hand selected one bedroom house, at 110k, thats still 6.24x average wage.

And you'll be damn lucky to be earning the average cornish wage where you have picked the house. Again, not an excuse, just a fact!

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Average age of FTB-s according to DCLG


First time buyers
1990 - 33
1991 - 31
1992 - 32
1993 - 32
1994 - 32
1995 - 31
1996 - 31
1997 - 32
1998 - 32
1999 - 32
2000 - 33
2001 - 34
2002 - 33
2003 - 31
2004 - 33
2005 - 32
2006 - 31
2007 - 31
2008 - 32
2009 - 32
2010 - 32
2011 - 32

Niv

Thanks for the link Graham. Always better debate if we can see the source materal.

I have had a quick read through the report. Now without a detailed analysis of the stats which are referenced but not shown (which is a shame as the use of an appendix would have been nice) it is still hard to fully agree / disagree with the report.

I would prefer an average house to be defined and the average sale prices of such an average house to be used to give (in my opinion) a more accurate picture. The average house price quoted in the report says it is ~£229k. This figure looks like it is based on a whole of market average from data from 2000, 2005 and 2010. You see to me for £229k a far from average house could be bought... so not very average.

I also do not know where the annual survey of hours and earning get their figures, so their accuracy is in question with me. Unless they are based on the whole of the work force / earners in the Southwest then I am not interested in their average as it is meaningless. For example if they literally 'survey' people then how many people do they survey? etc etc

Too much of the report is not detailed enough for me to simply accept it as conclusive proof.

I think that you and I will have to agree to disagree because I simply do not like the method for the average house price calculation nor do I have much faith in the ASHE.

Niv