FIVE billion pounds is a truly eye-watering amount of money. And yet that is how much has exchanged hands for bricks and mortar in our county in a single year.

If ever a figure summed up the affordability crisis in the area, then this is it. And having risen by £2bn it shows there is no letting up in the housing bubble yet.

The only surprise is that Oxford is not top of the list given the astronomical prices, but when you factor in the lack of supply it begins to make sense that more property sales are taking place outside the city.

The sum also shows how hard it is for people to get on the housing ladder with the added pressure of stamp duty.

With the average property price in the county £296,476 according to the land registry index, and £426,720 in Oxford last year, those who can somehow raise enough for a deposit then face paying thousands of pounds in fees and stamp duty.

It is no wonder then that cash scooped up by the taxman under stamp duty rose by almost 50 per cent in two years. While plans for 500 student flats are unveiled at Oxpens, more pertinent must be the affordable homes the city council has earmarked for the site. They cannot be built soon enough.