More Affordable Housing Needed in MK According to New Survey of Housing Needs

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 19th Jun 2006

Rocketing house prices are stopping people getting their foot on the property ladder while thousands of people are living in overcrowded homes across the new city, according to a new survey.

Initial results from the survey, carried out by consultants Opinion Research Services Limited, confirm that people are crying out for affordable housing across the Milton Keynes area.

High rents in private accommodation, which in some cases are twice the price of council or housing association properties, also come under close scrutiny in the report.

The full survey is due out next month, but initial results showed:

• A total of 3,590 households are currently living in overcrowded housing

• Rents for the cheapest properties in the private rented sector cost at least double the amount of council or housing association properties

• Between 1999 and 2006 the average house price in Milton Keynes rose by 136%

• By 2003 the price of an average property in Milton Keynes was over 6.3 times average earnings

• In 2005 less than 10% of properties were sold for less than £80,000, which is the maximum mortgage likely to be available to single first-time buyers

• Milton Keynes needs to build over 4,100 new homes each year to keep pace with the current rates of growth and more than a quarter of these should be affordable (mainly rented and shared ownership properties)

• The proportion of social rented housing needed should rise from 5% of the total number of houses built to 13%.

Commenting on these figures Irene Henderson, Liberal Democrat cabinet member for housing, said: "We welcome this report. Its figures show what many of us have suspected for some time - housing is becoming far too expensive for too many people in Milton Keynes. The need for affordable housing, especially good quality rented housing, has never been greater. It's the only realistic way that young people, the homeless, young families and many others can ever hope to be housed.

"We are working with Milton Keynes Partnership and the Government to increase the amount of new housing and especially affordable housing in Milton Keynes. In the last financial year we saw house builders provide just over 1800 homes, of which 739 were affordable - a level of new housing that we haven't seen since 1994/95. In future years we are planning to see even more new homes being built each year. This should make a huge difference. And this study gives us a firm basis to make sure that house builders provide the affordable housing that our Borough desperately needs. From now on, the survey will be updated annually to make sure that we continue to plan effectively to keep up with the fast rate of growth in Milton Keynes."

The rest of the study should be available in July and will be posted on MKWeb. It will play an important part when the Council updates its strategies and planning documents, particularly its Affordable Housing Supplementary Guidance later this year.