HOUSING in Malvern Hills became more affordable over the last year, new figures show.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics shows full-time employees in the Malvern Hills could expect to spend 9.9 times their annual earnings on purchasing a home in 2023 – slightly down from 10.7 times the year before.

However, the Institute for Public Policy Research has called for an increased investment in genuinely affordable homes.

Last year in England, a house cost 8.3 times the average wage, slightly down from 8.5.

While this was the second consecutive fall since 2021, these are still higher than before the pandemic in 2019, when buyers spent 7.9 their annual earnings.

Maya Singer Hobbs, senior research fellow at the IPPR, said: “The housing affordability crisis is damaging lives and holding back the economy.

"Its root cause is the failure to build enough homes across the country over several decades, including the failure to build enough genuinely affordable homes.”

She added: “To increase housing supply, and ensure homes are more affordable - whether to rent or buy - we need to reform and streamline the planning system, tackle our dysfunctional land market, and increase investment in genuinely affordable homes.”

Houses in Malvern Hills were 4.8% more expensive in 2023 than the year before, at an average price of £330,000. In the meantime, wages saw a 13.5% year-to-year increase.

Matt Nicol, managing director of Nicol & Co, said: “During the pandemic, life in lockdown caused people to reconsider their priorities, with space and amenity ranking higher than convenience and the ease to commute.

“Malvern for us scores highly on all four priorities. Those that were working saved money and the SDLT incentives accelerated some decisions to move, creating a period of unprecedented demand. With this demand, we have seen prices continue to rise.

“Getting on the ladder is still the difficult bit for many. Every journey has to start from where you are and home ownership is a journey rather than a one-off purchase.

"The location of our first purchase may not be what we ultimately aspire to but as a means to an end this could be where the compromise has to be made. Values differ across the country and within local markets.

"In Malvern, in and around Malvern Link, there will be more opportunities for those on a tighter budget.”

Cllr Natalie McVey, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Health at Malvern Hills District Council, said: “We are pleased to see an improving picture but affordability remains a real challenge for our residents.

"We work with developers, housing associations, and our planning colleagues to increase the supply of affordable housing.

"This includes social and affordable rent through housing associations as well as discount market sales and shared ownership, which residents can find out more about on our website - www.malvernhills.gov.uk/housing/housing-advice/affordable-housing”.