AT A TIME OF RECESSION WE NEED MORE HOMES NOT LESS

The publication of South West Home Truths on 27 October 2009 illustrates just how difficult it is for people to buy a home of their own. In Sedgemoor the report shows that the average person in 2008 needed a mortgage of 10.2 times salary to buy the average house, and in Taunton Deane it was 11 times!

Add to that the Nationwide press release of 30 October that annual house price inflation has turned positive for the first time since March 2008 and for those without a home of their own things have just got more difficult.

It is not surprising that many are turning to the affordable rented homes provided by housing associations. Indeed, Bridgwater-based landlord, SHAL Housing, has an average rent of £74.90 which makes living in a SHAL house affordable AND gives people an opportunity to save. However the Homefinder Somerset service shows there are over 16,000 households looking for homes to rent at present so demand significantly outstrips supply.

SHAL Chief Executive, John Thomson, said “All our properties are occupied and the gap between one tenant leaving and another taking a tenancy is about 3 days. So the answer is to build more new homes, for which we need two things to happen. Firstly we need land, and secondly, the government must continue public investment into affordable housing”.

Anyone interested in selling land to SHAL or one of its partners should contact Simon Gitsham at 2 King Square, telephone 01278 442011.