Figures reveal more woe for Oxford homebuyers (From Oxford Mail)

Figures reveal more woe for Oxford homebuyers

6:00am Tuesday 14th April 2009

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OXFORD is the fifth least affordable place in England to buy a home, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

New figures show the typical cost of a house in the city is more than 12 times the average amount the Oxford man or woman earns in a year.

The new statistics, released by the Conservative Party, show the average full-time salary in Oxford is £29,237.

The average house price in the city is £370,852 — 12.7 times the average income.

Only Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, South Buckinghamshire and St Edmundsbury in West Suffolk have a bigger disparity between wages and house prices.

In England as a whole, the average house costs 7.1 times average earnings.

The cost of a property in the Vale of White Horse is 9.4 times the average earnings in the area.

In West Oxfordshire, houses cost nine times average earnings, in South Oxfordshire a home costs 7.8 times average earnings, and in the Cherwell area homebuyers need to raise 7.7 times their yearly salary.

Mortgage providers will typically lend 2.8 times average earnings, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Last night, estate agents recommended first-time buyers looked at living in towns surrounding Oxford or considered shared ownership schemes in their bid to get on the property ladder.

Stuart Burtenshaw, residential sales manager at Connells in Headington, said: “It doesn’t surprise me that Oxford is near the top because there are some incredibly expensive houses here which push the average up.

“But there are more affordable parts of Oxford. It depends where you want to look.”

Mr Burtenshaw said homes just outside Oxford, in places such as Abingdon and Bicester, were significantly cheaper but said there were still bargains to be had within the city limits.

He said: “For every £3m Norham Gardens mansion, there is some flat or house on the outskirts of Oxford for £175,000. Oxford has everything from period piles to former local authority properties.

“There is something out there for everyone — even for relatively low-paid people earning less than the average wage.”

Mr Burtenshaw said the shared ownership My Choice Homebuy scheme run by Catalyst Housing Association — which allows first-time buyers or low-income families to get on the housing ladder — had proved hugely successful.

He estimated it amounted to a third of sales through the estate agency.

In March, the Oxford Mail revealed house prices in Oxfordshire had fallen to their lowest level for two years, although a 13.4 per cent year-on-year fall in the county’s property value was below the national average of a 16.5 per cent fall.

Jordan Gibbs, an estate agent at Allen & Harris in Rose Hill, said: “The figures sound a bit over the top.

“Oxford’s always going to be a bit more expensive than most places but I reckon 50 per cent of people coming in are first-time buyers.

“We are definitely seeing more first-time buyers as things seem to be picking up since January.”

The Conservative Party released the figures, which relate to the second half of last year, as it published proposals to give parish and town councils more power to make planning decisions.

Euan Woodman, 29, above, from Iffley Road, East Oxford, knows first hand the scale of the problems facing first-time buyers.

Despite working as an estate agent at Charles Lawson in East Oxford, he has been searching for a home to buy in the city with his partner for three years with no success.

He said: “If I wanted to buy somewhere I would have to look at moving considerably further out of Oxford and really compromise the enjoyment I have.

“I would have to live in Littlemore or Greater Leys or outside the ring road in Risinghurst.”

Mr Woodman said he had never put in an offer because prices for properties in the area he was interested in were too high — despite the fact that both he and his partner, who works in publishing, had reasonably well-paid full-time jobs. Mr Woodman said: “It’s just not feasible.

“I would like to have a three-bedroom terraced or end terrace Victorian and at the very least they’re about £275,000, which is about £75,000 over my budget.

“The only properties that are going to be affordable to me would be a complete wreck and require lots and lots of work.”

He said he was now looking at clubbing together with friends to buy a house in Canterbury, where prices are much lower, as an investment.

Mr Woodman added: “A lot of people are clued up about what they can get for their money but occasionally you get people coming in looking for three bedrooms for £150,000 to £200,000.

“I have to tell them they’re just going to get a one-bedroom flat in not a particularly nice area, and their faces do fall.”

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