House prices and affordability

House prices

• House prices (median price paid measure) in 2022 and 2023 were a return to the long-term trend, following a sharp rise in 2021. The sharp rise in 2021 coincided with a period of high demand fuelled by a stamp duty holiday earlier in the year and an influx of interest in the market following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions
• In the year ending September 2023, the median price paid in Herefordshire (all housing types) was £294,000 up from £280,000 for the year ending September 2022. While nationally, the median price paid increased to £285,000 from £276,000; and to £237,000 from £230,000 In the West Midlands region
• In the year to December 2022, monthly repayments on newly-issued mortgages rose sharply because of rising interest rates increasing the cost of borrowing. Mortgage rates have been falling since, but remain historically high

See the House Price Market Statistics spreadsheet in related documents for data and charts

Housing affordability

Housing affordability is linked to house prices and to wages. Herefordshire’s rurality means that it has an over-representation of desirable, larger detached houses combined with a relatively low wage economy, which creates barriers to home ownership for young and single people and for those with low to average earnings.

• In 2023, the ratio of median house price to median annual workplace-based earnings in Herefordshire was 9.8; higher than the average for the West Midlands (7.2) and England as a whole (8.3). Herefordshire had the 6th worst housing affordability out of the West Midlands region’s 30 local authority areas (all tiers) and the worst of comparable upper-tier local authority areas (unitaries, counties and metropolitan boroughs)
• In line with a fall observed nationally and regionally, Herefordshire’s ratio fell over consecutive years from a peak of 10.3 in 2021

See the House Price Market Statistics spreadsheet in related documents for data and charts

Affordable housing

The latest (2021) Housing Market Area Needs Assessment demonstrated that there is a notable need for affordable housing and it is clear that the provision of new affordable housing is an important and pressing issue in Herefordshire and confirms that affordable delivery should be maximised where opportunities arise.