Exmoor buyers 'unable to afford homes in National Park'

Residents in the south-west of England living in the Exmoor National Park area face paying at least seven times their income if they want to purchase a home, it has been advised.

The Exmoor National Park Authority's annual house price survey has revealed that the average price of a home falling into the cheapest 25 per cent of those on the market stands at £196,000, in comparison to local residents' average gross household income of £28,132.

As a result, local officials are encouraging residents to sign up to the district council's housing register so that they can qualify for assistance schemes.

"The Rural Housing Project is working hard with its partners in local authorities and housing associations to provide new affordable housing," commented rural housing enabler Colin Savage

"This new housing can only be lived in by local people. The bulk of need is for low cost rented housing, and schemes have been completed over the last year in Lynton and Dulverton.

"Many others are now in the pipeline across Exmoor to be built over the next three years," Mr Savage added.

House prices across the UK as a whole rose by 0.7 per cent last month, according to Nationwide.

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