Is this proof of more social cleansing? A new Housing Market Monitor report by New Economy for AGMA, the Association of Greater Manchester Councils, shows Broughton in the top five of least affordable wards in Greater Manchester.
The table shows Broughton joining Bowdon, Hale Barns, Hale Central and Clifford with a ridiculous `income to house price' ratio of 8.2, meaning average house prices are 8.2 times median incomes. The average house price in Broughton is now £152,704, while the median income is £18,716.
In Hale Central, for instance, the income to house price ratio is 8.5. Broughton is the only area outside of posh Trafford that figures in the report's `Least Affordable Wards' table. The `Most Affordable Ward' is Farnworth in Bolton, where median income is £20,777 and average house prices £73,913, giving a ratio of 3.7.
Broughton is where affordable houses in the Top Streets and Lower Broughton were bulldozed to be replaced by new unaffordable houses built by Countryside Properties as part of the Government's notorious Pathfinder social engineering project to bring `young professionals' in to replace working class communities.
Countryside Properties actually laid the policy out in black and white recently in a planning report to Salford City Council where its latest phase of `New Broughton' would see a `tenure split' of 36% affordable and 64% unaffordable, or `market accommodation' properties... "It was a key aspiration of the Development Agreement to significantly reduce the proportion of affordable housing" it stated.
This latest research shows that it's working, with the local community being priced out of the new housing (for more details see Social Cleansing In Salford in the print issue of Salford Star pages 20-21 click here).
In contrast, the New Economy report cites Homes and Community Agency statistics showing just 139 `affordable home' completions in Salford last year, of which none were for social rent. The more expensive and misleading `affordable rent' properties made up the majority of these homes (125). `Affordable rent' is priced at 80% of market rent, rather than the much cheaper `social rent' (between 40% and 60% of market rent'). The remainder were 14 `affordable home ownership' properties.
For those who could afford to buy a house, the report (based on figures for 2014) shows that Salford as a whole had the most increase in house sales in the whole of Greater Manchester at 40.8%. The ward of Ordsall, covering Salford Quays and MediaCityUK, had the highest number of sales of any ward with 494, more than even Manchester City Centre. The figures contained within the report make a mockery of claims by property developers that their new blocks of apartments in the Quays and near Manchester centre would be `unviable' if they had to pay planning fees, because of `uncertain market conditions'.
Salford has lost over £19million and 800 affordable homes in the last year alone by developers pleading poverty and avoiding planning obligations (see Salford's £19million Panning Scandal in the print issue pages 27-29 click here).
The average house price across the whole of Salford is now £136,875, with median household income at £24,605, giving an income to house price ratio of 5.6. New build properties cost on average £149,972, and a new build terraced house costs a staggering £161,193 on average.
Given the huge prices of new homes and houses in general, more people are having to rent and a sample of Salford properties in the report shows rental prices increasing, although based on small samples to rent a two bedroom house has gone up by 2.4% (average rent per calendar month £545) and a three bedroom house up by 5.7% (£680 pcm).
Meanwhile to rent a studio flat in Salford now costs £510 pcm, a rise of 18.3%, a one bedroom flat £541, a rise of 7.8%, a two bedroom flat £649, a rise of 0.5%, and a three bedroom flat £918, a rise of 11.7%. The report adds that "an average flat/apartment could be rented in Salford Quays for around £800 per calendar month rising to over £900 for a 2 or 3 bed flat/apartment".
Overall, the report confirms what many people in the community are experiencing priced out of a new house in the regeneration areas, rents going up, social housing availability going down and wages stagnating. Even though, as the report shows, Salford is experiencing a property boom. The question is: a boom for whom?
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