The average house in the UK could cost more than £1 million by 2032, Liberal Democrat researchers claim.
By projecting house price trends culled from Office for National Statistics figures, they conclude that the value of the average home will hit £650,000 in ten years’ time.
Over the next 16 years, they say, it will more than triple from the present £290,000 to £1.017 million.
Needless to say, incomes aren’t forecast to rise at anything approaching the same rate.
The party is backing a debate today calling for action from the government.
“A child born on the day of the debate faces the prospect of paying at least a million for a home to call their own,” party leader Tim Farron tells the Daily Telegraph.
“Relying on the Bank of Mum and Dad isn’t an option for everyone and adds pressure to millions of families who have worked hard and done the right thing. The continuing upward spiral of house prices threatens the very idea of a family home.”
In today’s debate, the Lib Dems will call for the government to do more to help young people get on to the property ladder. They want councils to build far more houses, including through the creation of 10 more garden cities, including five in the south-east of England.
The government’s made some progress in boosting the level of house building in recent years, but is still way behind its target of 400,000 new homes under construction by 2020.
And this target is in any case far too low, says the Town and Country Planning Association, which believes that at least 240,000 new homes a year are needed until 2031.
While the need for more housing is undeniable, the Lib Dem house price predictions need to be taken with a pinch of salt, as they’re based only on the trends of the last three years.
It’s true that UK house prices hit a record high last month, with the Halifax citing an average of £212,430. That’s 9.7% up on January 2015, compared with a rate of pay growth of only 2%.
It’s more than possible, though, that the increasing unaffordability of property will lead to a market correction. Some observers are suggesting that, in London at least, we’re entering a bubble – a bubble that could soon pop.