House prices in the UK villages driven up by unabated influx of people

Posted under General by Alan

The new review entitled ‘Living Working Countryside’ has found that house prices in the UK villages have been largely driven up by an unabated influx of people moving away from cities.

Villages will end up becoming ‘exclusive enclaves of the wealthy and elderly’ unless provision to build more affordable housing is made. This is the conclusion drawn from an independent review.

The disparity between high house prices and low average incomes in rural areas of the UK was also addressed in the report. The average local wage of people in rural areas is £20,895, which is £4,655 lower than the average wage level in better off, urban parts of the UK.

This disparity was coupled with the worrying fact that the average house price in rural areas was £8,000 more than in conurbations. The report concluded this meant young people struggled to buy homes in the countryside. The figures only confirm this fact. In rural parts of the UK first-time buyers made some 17 per cent of purchases, compared with almost double or 33 per cent in urban areas of the country.

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