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While older people are most likely to vote, it is younger generations who feel the most short changed. <\/p>\n
With house prices rising more slowly than earnings, purchasing a home for the first time is more possible compared to just a couple of years ago. At the start of the year, the Nationwide Building Society said mortgage payments accounted for a third of take home pay \u2013 well below the record of 48% in 1989.<\/p>\n
But today’s prospective buyers tend to be juggling high rental costs too, making it harder to save for a deposit. This is partly why the average age of the first time buyer has risen over recent years.<\/p>\n
The most sustainable solution is to build more homes, but the government’s behind on its target. The number of new homes was down by 6% last year and below the 300,000 needed to reach the government’s target.<\/p>\n
Andy Burnham wants to build more social housing, which would help. But, as successive governments have found, it’s not easy.<\/p>\n
Housing is one the many big plans Burnham has hinted at to cure our economic malaise, but he has to grapple with a challenging inheritance.<\/p>\n
Ironically, the easiest way to fund his plans would be to draw on the spoils of faster growth.<\/p>\n
Like many before him, Andy Burnham’s vision appears to be that you have to spend more money to make money. But whose money?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n