FIRST time buyers might have a fight on their hands if they want to live in Stratford.
Homeless charity Shelter say the district is one of the worst places in the West Midlands for affordable housing, with only seven homes available.
They make up just a few of the 5,000 affordable homes available across the region.
To get the figures Shelter analysed asking prices of properties for sale and compared them with the mortgage an average family buying their first home could afford.
It is based on a couple in their twenties with children wanting to buy a family home with an annual income of £30,000.
Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb said: “Nearly eighty per cent of homes on the market are off limits for a typical family in the West Midlands, and this is nothing short of a scandal.
“Decades of failing to deliver the homes we need is leaving millions trapped in expensive and unstable private renting, or in their childhood bedrooms, with barely a hope of saving for a home of their own.”
Stratford District Council deem a home to be affordable if it is a shared ownership property – where people can part buy and part rent.
In the past ten years the council has provided more than 1,1000 new homes through housing associations and expects this figure to increase now the new Housing Strategy has been adopted.
A council spokeswoman said: “Stratford District Council’s new Housing Strategy recognises the need for more affordable housing across the district. It also acknowledges the high cost of private rents and owner occupation.
“Last year the district council, with its housing association partners, enabled 215 new affordable homes – the highest number of new homes since the council transferred its stock in 1996.
“The council is working hard with its housing association partners to enable more affordable housing across the district, both for rent and for shared ownership sale.”
