HOUSE prices in much of London as well as the UK’s southeast have increased by more than 40 per cent, instilling fears of a housing bubble and rising costs of living at a time when wages have been held down.
A study by the Smith Institute found that house prices in these areas have soared above their previous peaks in November 2007.
At the same time it said house prices have plummeted by at least 20 per cent across large parts of Wales, the Midlands and the north of England over the same period.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimated earlier this month that house prices in the UK will be ten per cent higher in five years’ time than previously expected.
This comes as a survey by Inside Housing magazine found the government’s welfare reforms have sparked a 26-per cent rise in social housing eviction notices.
The survey of 113 social landlords across the UK showed that councils and housing associations are increasingly using the threat of eviction to protect their income in the face of welfare cuts and the squeeze on living standards.
Landlords issued almost 100,000 notices seeking possession for rent arrears between April and November this year, a 26-per cent rise on the same period in 2012.
The controversial ‘bedroom tax’, introduced by the government in April, has resulted in a sharp increase in arrears for people in public housing, particularly in the Midlands and North.
A joint study by leading charities Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Crisis warned last week that homelessness in the UK has been rising for three years in a row under the twin pressures of housing shortages and government cuts to benefits.
The research revealed that an estimated 185,000 people a year are now affected by homelessness in the country.
Moreover, it found that one in ten Britons has experienced homelessness at some point in their life with one in 50 facing the hardship in the last five years.
Crisis chief Leslie Morphy said: ‘Shamefully, it is the poorest and most vulnerable bearing the brunt.’