5
Mar
First-time buyers in south-east 'need assistance to buy'
Houses in the south-east are so expensive that local people are
getting financial help so they can afford them, according to the
Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH).
Some 40 per cent of first-time buyers (FTBs) under 30 in the region
need this kind of financial assistance in 2006 as published in
recent government data, CIH said.
The south-east is the least affordable region in the country
outside London despite major house-building programmes and a major
issue is the cost of property in relation to earnings of local
people.
Richard McCarthy, director general of housing and planning in the
department for communities and local government, updated delegates
at the CIH South East's annual conference and exhibition on the
progress of the proposed housing and regeneration bill, which will
see 240,000 additional homes a year by 2016.
Recent research by Abbey Mortgages has revealed that FTBs are more
reluctant to commit to buying a house.
Only a third of those who said they planned to buy at the start of
the year felt they still wanted to.
