Homes in Britain have become less affordable over the past ten years, despite the property market being cooler than previous decades.
According to Nationwide, house prices rose 33% between 2010 and the end of 2019 – lower than the 180% increase for the 1980s and the 118% rise in the 2000s, but ahead of the 21% rise of the 1990s.
However, the rise in prices was far ahead of any wage growth, which rose by just 20% over the decade and are still below pre-crash levels in real terms. The time taken for an average worker to save for a 20% deposit has lengthened from 10 years in 2009 to 15 years in 2019.
The decade has also seen a significant widening in the gap between the least affordable and more affordable regions, with prices rising 66% in London, but just 2% in Northern Ireland.
Investment in British property, it says, has proven to be less lucrative than other asset classes over the past decade, with the FTSE100 rose by 39% and the FTSE250 by 135%.
Over the same period shares in Apple rose by 875%.
