Mortgage costs exceed '90's peak

Mortgage costs for a first-time buyer have also risen by 12% over the course of 2007. Such affordability pressures have resulted in an increase in the size of the Intermediate Housing Market (IHM), with 28.3% of young working households currently being priced out of the lowest end of their local property market. The largest proportions of young working households unable to access the housing market were found to be in London (41%) and the South West (40%). Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, pointed out that house prices falls would improve such people’s chances of getti...