In 1997 the average price of a house in the Folkestone & Hythe District was £61,484. Twenty one years later in 2018, the average price of house in the district has increased four and half times reaching £270,490.
With a five percent deposit (£13,500) meaning an outstanding payment of £256,500 at 4.2%, monthly repayments would be £1,382.39. Over the lifetime of the mortgage one would pay back £414,716.11. For many home ownership regardless of background is fast becoming a dream.
The interactive graph below shows how the housing market moved from boom to slump and to recovery. In the the Folkestone & Hythe District house prices were increasing strongly at the end of the 1990s and early noughties. Price increases show a 16.9% increase in 2002 from the previous year. In 2003 prices rose sharply again by 23.9%, before falling to a more moderate 8-12% until 2009 when house prices shrunk by -12.1% in 2009, caused by the banking crisis of 2008. It took until 2014 before house prices started experiencing growth again in the district. As of 2018 prices had cooled again because of uncertainty about Brexit.
Now it is normal for two people to get a mortgage and to get a mortgage for £256,500, both people would need to be earning around £30,000 each, according to which.co.uk. However, with the average pay £27,350 according to the office of national statistics, a growing percentage of the district are locked out from potential home ownership.
Now of course most people aren’t average, nor are prices. Many people have arrived from London after selling up and seeing the sense to live in one of the most wonderful places in the country, at prices they can afford. Many have retired here, but for the locals the chances of owning their own home, what with local wages as they are, is all but a pipe dream.
Home ownership is becoming increasingly out of reach for young people. A survey by Santander found 70% of 18- to 34-year-olds now believe that home ownership is over for their generation. Our housing system has been allowed to degenerate to such an extent that secure and affordable housing is increasingly unavailable to working-class people, and in many places across the district middle-class people too.
When it comes to housing, class intersects with the intergenerational divide, as well as race and gender. Parents who have sufficient money to pay the deposit for their children can access homes to buy, leaving most of the rest of us trapped in the insecure, unaffordable private rented sector and that’s not going to change anytime soon.
There is a housing crisis for the young and don’t let anyone tell you different. So called average wages of £27k are just a dream for many, so in reality the points you make are far worse. Until the government of whatever colour undertakes a proper programme of social house building and affordable housing – ie affordable to those on or around minimum wage, it will not change. Also there should be a policy of use it or lose it for derelict or empty homes. Landbanking by companies with no intended use should also be controlled and finally, unless the nimbyism that sweeps through areas – including F,H and RM – is reversed the problem will never be solved. Our children and their children need affordable homes so let’s just get them built!!
Buying your first house has never been easy. I bought my first house in York. I was described as the rich Southerner. No hot water, outside toilet, and a walk to the local baths for a weekly bath. I worked seven days a week on shifts at Rowntrees. Whilst washing my windows a neighbour said are you a window cleaner I said yes and started a round working when I was not at Rowntrees.
Today is different and maybe harder and you may have to give up a lot. But if you really want a house go and get one.
Now that may seem trite but it is the way I would approach home ownership if I was starting now. However the population increase by immigration has made matters worse because each government did not match the building of houses with the growth in population. The EU free movement made it worse as the old communist countries found riches in the West. I must admit if it had been me I probably would have come too!
There are various reasons why the housing market is the way it is and life is difficult but remember if you put controls on letting houses the market would dry up. Even with cheaper houses you would get winners and losers, the workers and the ‘I want one with no effort’ type.
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There is a housing crisis for the young and don’t let anyone tell you different. So called average wages of £27k are just a dream for many, so in reality the points you make are far worse. Until the government of whatever colour undertakes a proper programme of social house building and affordable housing – ie affordable to those on or around minimum wage, it will not change. Also there should be a policy of use it or lose it for derelict or empty homes. Landbanking by companies with no intended use should also be controlled and finally, unless the nimbyism that sweeps through areas – including F,H and RM – is reversed the problem will never be solved. Our children and their children need affordable homes so let’s just get them built!!
Buying your first house has never been easy. I bought my first house in York. I was described as the rich Southerner. No hot water, outside toilet, and a walk to the local baths for a weekly bath. I worked seven days a week on shifts at Rowntrees. Whilst washing my windows a neighbour said are you a window cleaner I said yes and started a round working when I was not at Rowntrees.
Today is different and maybe harder and you may have to give up a lot. But if you really want a house go and get one.
Now that may seem trite but it is the way I would approach home ownership if I was starting now. However the population increase by immigration has made matters worse because each government did not match the building of houses with the growth in population. The EU free movement made it worse as the old communist countries found riches in the West. I must admit if it had been me I probably would have come too!
There are various reasons why the housing market is the way it is and life is difficult but remember if you put controls on letting houses the market would dry up. Even with cheaper houses you would get winners and losers, the workers and the ‘I want one with no effort’ type.