The National Housing Federation (NHF) suggested in a recent statement that rural areas are becoming a “theme park for the rich” and are damaging established town and village communities.
A spokesperson for the NHF said the main areas of concern were Devon and Cornwall, adding that local earnings in Cornwall were particularly low. He also revealed that the south-west of England had the highest affordability gap of any region in the UK, stating that house prices were ten times the size of average earnings.
“If you take a mortgage out, generally a lender is supposed to lend you three to four times the amount of your salary. Some lenders are stretching to five or six times. In Cornwall, house prices are ten times your average salary, so that gives you an idea of how difficult it is getting.”
And the NHF spokesperson highlighted the fact that there were other rural areas in which the problem was even worse, such as Eden in Cumbria – where prices are around 12 times the average salary.
“There are some real hotspots,” he continued. “It’s because local earnings just can’t compete with what people from cities and wealthier parts of the country can afford.”
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