Housing crisis: ‘Hackney as bad as Kensington and Chelsea’
Affordable homes? None here, according to Shelter
There are no affordable flats or houses in Hackney for families looking to buy their first home, according to research by Shelter.
The housing charity’s analysis placed the borough alongside Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden and Brent as the most unaffordable regions in the capital for couples with children on an average income.
Figures show that it is now nearly impossible for singletons to get a foot on the housing ladder in Hackney.
The borough was ranked the 20th most unaffordable area in the capital with just 29 properties being attainable for first-time buyers. Last year Shelter urged the government to build more affordable homes.
Campbell Robb, Shelter’s chief executive, said a housing shortage is holding back a generation and urged the government to build more affordable homes before the prospect of becoming a homeowner slips “further out of reach for future generations”.
He added: “When the number of affordable properties in an entire borough can be counted on one hand, it’s not difficult to see why a stable home of their own is quickly becoming a distant dream for the next generation.”
The research looked at asking prices from an online property website on a single day and compared this with the mortgages three different household types could likely access as first-time buyers.
According to the Greater London Authority 98 affordable homes have been completed in Hackney between April and September this year. However, just nine of those are affordable home-ownership properties.
Statistics from the Land Registry of England and Wales for April to June 2013 suggest the average property price in Hackney is in excess of £400,000 – an increase of 14.7 per cent on the previous year.
A Hackney estate agent has told the Hackney Citizen that buyers are increasingly moving into the borough from affluent west London.
Related:
How the council is tackling Hackney’s affordable housing crisis