According to the latest Halifax Key Worker Housing Review, the average house is unaffordable for key public sector workers in at least 65% of 519 towns across Great Britain. Five years ago, the average house in only 24% of towns was unaffordable for all key worker groups surveyed.
* Affordability for key workers is worst in the South West where the average house in all 34 towns surveyed is unaffordable for all five key worker groups - compared with 2001, when the average house was unaffordable in just 5 of the 34 towns in the region.
* Greater London and the South East is the next most badly affected part of the country with 95% of the 189 towns and boroughs surveyed being unaffordable for all key worker groups, an increase of 59% since 2001.
* The South West has seen the biggest increase in the number of towns where the average house is unaffordable for all key worker groups over the past five years - a rise of 85% from 15% in 2001 to 100% in 2006. There have also been substantial increases in East Midlands (61%), East Anglia (52%), Yorkshire & Humber (51%), West Midlands (50%) and North West (47%).
* Gerrards Cross is the least affordable town in Great Britain for key workers, followed by Weybridge; Lochgelly in Fife is the most affordable town for key workers.
Martin Ellis, Chief Economist at Halifax, commented: "Key workers have been hit hard by the strength of the property market over the past five years. Now it is difficult for key workers to buy the average house not only in the south of England but also in significant parts of the Midlands, northern England, Wales and Scotland. While flats are affordable for key workers in many towns outside southern England, it is becoming increasingly difficult for key workers to purchase a flat in many major cities including Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge and two thirds of London's boroughs. It is important that the government continues to develop schemes to help key workers onto the property ladder and to ensure that these schemes are not confined to southern England. The presence of sufficient key workers is critical to the smooth functioning of life in our cities and towns."
