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House prices and affordability

House prices

  • House prices (median price paid measure) rose to record levels during the pandemic adding further to housing affordability pressures, especially in destination areas for the so-called “race for space”. From year ending June 2021 they then fell back for a period before rising again in the year ending September 2022
  • In the year ending September 2022, the median price paid in Herefordshire (all housing types) was £270,000 down from £275,000 for y/e September 2021. While nationally, the median price paid decreased to £270,000 from £279,000; and to £230,000 from £235,000 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

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. It’s rurality means that Herefordshire 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 2022, the ratio of lower quartile house price to lower quartile annual workplace-based earnings in Herefordshire was 9.17: significantly higher than in England (7.19) and the West Midlands region as a whole (7.05). Herefordshire had the 7th 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
  • In line with a fall observed nationally and regionally, the Herefordshire ratio fell from 9.93 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.