House prices rising four times faster than wages
“House prices are going up four times faster than people’s wages. No wonder mortgage approvals are falling and first-time buyers are struggling to save a large enough deposit. And we all know that housing bubbles burst and cause economic chaos."
19 May 2015
Commenting on today’s (Tuesday) new house price data from the Office for National Statistics, which shows an annual increase of 9.6 per cent compared to just 2.2 per cent for wages, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“House prices are going up four times faster than people’s wages. No wonder mortgage approvals are falling and first-time buyers are struggling to save a large enough deposit. And we all know that housing bubbles burst and cause economic chaos.
“There is no sign the government yet understands the challenge of ending the housing crisis. Their headline policy is an incredibly unpopular plan to sell off social housing to the private market. This would reduce the supply of affordable homes when we should be adding to them as quickly as possible.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk
- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews
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