The average house price in the South East of England will be over £322,000 in five years’ time, according to a new report published by the National Housing Federation South East and the Chartered Institute of Housing.

The report contains new projections by Oxford Economic Forecasting which show that house prices will continue to spiral upwards across the region, fuelled by a severe lack of housing supply and a growing population.

Despite the higher than average earnings in the South East, householders already face house prices that are almost nine times average incomes. In ten local authority areas, house prices are over 10 times local incomes. In Windsor and Maidenhead and across Surrey, the price of an average home currently exceeds £300,000, making it increasingly difficult for first time buyers, keyworkers and families on housing waiting lists to afford a place of their own.

An explosion of affordable housing need has occurred throughout the region, with over 180,000 families currently on housing waiting lists in the region - a rise of more than 50% in the last 5 years.

In addition to this, the South East is producing only three quarters of the new affordable homes it needs each year. Lettings of affordable rented homes have dropped nearly 30% since 2000, mainly due to the lack of new supply and residents exercising their ‘Right to Buy’.

The population of the South East is expected to grow by over 900,000 people in the next 20 years, giving rise to around 37,000 new households every year - well above the number of new homes planned for the region.

The National Housing Federation represents over 330 non-profit housing associations, providing low cost home ownership schemes and affordable rented homes for over 750,000 people in the region. They are doing all they can to help, but they want to do more.

Derek Cash, Head of South Region at the National Housing Federation said: “Many more affordable homes are urgently needed to avert the South East’s growing housing crisis. The lack of sufficient housing supply is pushing house prices up more and more, putting a huge strain on the existing affordable housing stock.

Our OEF projections may seem like good news for current homeowners in the region, but they actually spell disaster and not just for tomorrow’s first time buyers. People will be unable to find a home in the area where they grew up, and key public sector workers will have to move to cheaper parts of the country to ease their housing problems, making essential public services in the region more vulnerable.

This will not help build the balanced neighbourhoods required for sustainability, which will have devastating consequences on communities - both rich and poor alike.

There is a clear discrepancy between the draft South East Plan’s proposals for under 29,000 new homes a year and the Government’s projections showing around 37,000 households will form each year in the region. It’s vital that the South East of England Regional Assembly supports the necessary increase in delivery of new affordable homes, and that the Government makes affordable housing a major priority in next year?s Comprehensive Spending Review.”