There are many things that beggar belief. The enduring popularity of Mrs Brown’s Boys for one. A continued appetite for the songs of James Blunt. And the appointment of George Osborne as editor of the London Evening Standard.
That last one is particularly hard to fathom. But then so is some other news out this morning: a typical home now costs more than seven times income. And I’m not talking about your luxury pads or property in the most desirable enclaves of the capital.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the typical property now costs 7.6 times average annual earnings of employees in England and Wales. This is a record – and an unwelcome one at that, especially for first-time buyers already struggling to get onto the property ladder. The ONS says that in 2007, the typical buyer faced paying 7.2
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