Star comment: On road to nowhere in home buying

When property prices begin to rise, many rub their hands in glee.

But a new report today has revealed the shocking extent of property poverty in Shropshire. The facts are easy to understand.

During the past ten years, the county's property prices have doubled. But at the same time, wages have risen by just 25 per cent.

That means there is now an unbridgeable gap between the cost of a buying a house and the mortgage that would-be buyers can afford.

The implication of the property trap is simple: those who have not yet bought a house are unlikely to be able to afford to. In some cases, the dream of buying a house will never be realised.

Affordable housing has long been on the agenda for Shropshire's policy makers. In areas like south Shropshire, for instance, where prices are inflated because of the influx of retirees and second home owners, the former district council worked hard to create pockets of affordable houses with the help of local housing associations.

But more needs to be done. Rising property prices are good news for the people who already own their own home. The extra collateral that home owners accrue can be borrowed against, when people know that they'll be able to pay it back.

That money can be reinvested in the local economy, providing a boost for building firms, car dealerships or others who are the recipients of such windfalls. But for those who cannot afford to buy, it is the road to nowhere.

Future generations are hardest hit. Families who have lived for years in rural parts of the county find that they can no longer afford to do so.

Twenty-something adults and students newly graduated find they have to leave the county and settle in Birmingham, Manchester or other conurbations, where suburban property prices are lower.

The credit crunch of 2008 means there is little prospect of the situation improving. Our economy remains locked in a vicious circle, with property prices stagnant and wages refusing to budge.

Those not yet on the property ladder have little hope of getting on it in coming years.