18th February 2010

The high cost of housing revealed in a new advertising campaign in London by homeless charity Shelter will come as no surprise to residential conveyancing solicitors.

Like everyone else connected with the buying and selling of homes, lawyers have been interested to see the comparison between the cost of a shopping trolley of groceries for a family of four and house prices in the last 40 years.

In 1971, the average home cost £5,632 and that figure had risen to £227,765 by 2008. If the price of food and other household essentials had increased at the same rate, the family's weekly bill would be about three times what it is now, coming in at around £420.

Examples given by the charity suggest a pint of milk would cost £2.43, instead of approximately 50p, and a chicken's price - between £3.50 and £12 today - would be £47.51.

Shelter's director of policy and campaigns Kay Boycott said, "These calculations show just how out of line the cost of housing has become – yet we seem to have just accepted these inflated prices as normal in a way we wouldn't with anything else."

She added that high housing costs were increasingly influencing the choices people made about how they live their lives and suggested it was vital all political parties made housing a top priority so that future generations are not held back by the cost of their homes.

Although the advertising campaign is centred on London stations, the statistics quoted are also relevant to housing costs in other cities such as Brighton.

Residential conveyancing solicitors are able to help with buying and selling properties under special Government schemes aimed at those with low incomes such as the First Time Buyer Initiative, shared ownership and rights to buy from the local authority.