Building an election victory on difficult housing pledges

The main parties are making big manifesto promises on new homes. But can they realistically deliver, asks James Moore

- James Moore

Housing in Britain is, frankly, a horror show. This has been the case for some time, a result of successive governments burying their heads in the sand because it’s an expensive problem for which there’s no quick fix.

But every now and again, the reality of the scale of the challenge forces the powers that be to take notice.

The latest figures from Rightmove, for example, paint a grim picture, particularly for those trying to get onto the lower rungs of the property ladder. Analysis from the firm shows that the average monthly mortgage payment for first-time buyers has risen by 61 per cent to £1,075 since the last election in 2019.

Over the course of a year, that adds up to £12,900. The average UK wage stands at roughly £35,000, but the increases in firsttimers’ average mortgage payments have outpaced wage growth by a wide margin – over the same five-year period, average wages went up by just 27 per cent.

Part of the reason for the sharp rise in housing costs is that the average price of homes bought by first-time buyers has risen by nearly a fifth (19 per cent) to £227,757 since 2019. But mortgage rates have played a similarly malign role, driven by the series of base-rate rises imposed by the Bank of England.