Harrogate is worst in Yorkshire for housebuilding

Harrogate is the worst area in Yorkshire for housebuilding, new figures reveal.
NADV 1501055AM4 New housing.(1501055AM4)NADV 1501055AM4 New housing.(1501055AM4)
NADV 1501055AM4 New housing.(1501055AM4)

Just 100 new homes were built in Harrogate last year, making it the worst performing area in Yorkshire in terms of meeting housing needs.

The survey by the National Housing Federation places Harrogate at the bottom of the Yorkshire league table with a shortfall of 715 houses last year.

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Less than 5 per cent of the district’s social housing need was met in 2014, as just 10 new social homes were built and the 90 new homes sold for private ownership in 2014 made up just 14 per cent of the 607 homes needed.

The lack of house building is driving prices up to unaffordable levels, forcing people out their home towns, the National Housing Federation has warned.

David Orr, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “The alarm bells sounded long ago, and yet nothing seems to have changed. For the sixth year a row, new home building is at rock bottom. People in Yorkshire and the Humber are now thoroughly aware that the region is facing a housing crisis and despite a spate of short-term initiatives there is no grand plan.

“If tackling the housing crisis is about anything, it’s about building more homes. It’s the lack of supply and failure to cater for demand, which pushes up prices and leaves needy people out in the cold.

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“Unless we act now and building more housing of all types, but particularly genuinely affordable housing, we are in danger of making today’s housing crisis our children’s problem. That’s why we’re asking that politicians get their heads out the sand and commit to a long-term plan to ending the housing crisis within a generation.”

Harrogate’s housing is some of the most unaffordable in the country, with average house prices vastly outstripping wages, the average house price in Harrogate is £271,935, 10.6 times the average salary of £25,714

Former residents have told the Advertiser they have been forced to leave the area where they grew up in order to be able to afford to rent or buy a home.

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