Its research showed that the amount of deposit needed to get a mortgage has risen by 386%.
In 2001, the deposit for a typical 90% mortgage available that year was £12,177, which required nine months’ salary. By 2011, the deposit needed for a typical 75% mortgage leapt to £59,129, almost three years’ salary.
The NHF also found that in 2001, the ratio between average house price and salary was 7.4, but by 2011 that had risen further to 11.1.
Regional variations show greater gaps with the biggest change in Copeland in Cumbria, where house prices rose by 145% and incomes by just 5%. Other areas where the gap between average house prices and wages has increased most over ten years are Watford, Corby, Redcar & Cleveland, Burnley and Kensington & Chelsea.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said; “These shocking figures show that it is getting increasingly harder for millions of people to buy a home of their own in the current climate.
“With the gap between income and house prices growing ever wider, people can often feel like they have to win the lottery to be able to buy in their local area.
“A shortage of homes means the price to buy them is being pushed ever higher by the market, and out of reach of millions of hard working families. Unless we start building more homes, people can truly afford to match the demand, this will only get worse.”
Earlier this week the government has called on ‘expert brokers’ to spearhead a fresh drive to get stalled housing deals up and running and builders back on moth-balled sites.
