House prices are beyond many young people – something needs to be done

The planning regime has to be reformed to allow more homes of the type that people need to be built on the places where they want them, argues Ben Chapman

The average UK house price increased by £27,000 last year (Anthony Devlin/PA) (PA Wire)

Last year was a dire one for the UK economy, but one part of it grew enormously: the housing market.

Average prices jumped £27,000 in a year, just shy of the UK median income of £29,900.

The good news – for some – is that if you own property you’ve just had another unearned windfall.If you’ve got lots of properties you’ve done particularly well.

The bad news – for many more – is that the increasing number of people who don’t own a property will have to work for even longer if they want to buy one. A deposit on the average home is now £59,000, according to the Halifax.

Saving that sum, without help from generous parents or an inheritance, is impossible for many young people, who have had to contend with 15 years of stagnant wages.

Making matters worse, this week we found out that increases to the cost if living are, once again, outpacing growth in earnings.

Younger people are also being clobbered with a large effective tax increase thanks to government changes to student loan repayments.

That’s on top of a 10 per cent increase to national insurance contributions to pay for health and social care used mainly by older generations.

Genuine ideas about how to deal with the dysfunctional way that britain provides roofs over people’s heads would be much appreciated.

But too often what is actually provided is little more than patronising finger-wagging.

Last week, people without a home were helpfully told to give up Netflix, Starbucks lattes, budget flights and the gym.

By one calculation, someone would only need to forego those things for 37 years in order to save that illusive deposit.

What needs to be done is obvious, even if it is not simple to deliver. The planning regime must be reformed to allow more homes of the type that people need to be built on the places where they want them.

The Bank of England, which has helped to inflate the property bubble with years of ultra-low interest rates, should have a responsibility to keep house prices in check.

Serious reforms have been talked about for decades and, still, scant progress has been made.

The same debates come up over and over again. It’s time to stop the intergenerational bickering and start acting.