Nurses with up to ten years’ experience are unable to afford to buy a house across seven regions of England and Wales, according to new research.
The likelihood of a nurse being able to afford a home outright in the first ten years after qualifying is below 30% in the East Midlands, East of England, Home Counties, South East, South West and West Midlands.
There is only a 1% chance for them to become home owners in Greater London.
Nurses will only reach a 30% likelihood of buying when they start earning £40,000 or more annually. However, this would still exclude London, South East and Home Counties where their chances of affording a property would remain less than a third.
‘Sad state of affairs’
The situation is leaving nurses with little option other than to move north, consider shared ownership options or to continue to rent.
Doug Crawford, CEO of My Home move, said: ‘It’s a very sad state of affairs that some of the country’s most needed and valued professionals are priced out of the majority of the housing market.’
‘And while we appreciate that low interest rates mean ‘cheaper’ borrowing and that the Government’s Help to Buy scheme provides some assistance, the facts still remain the same – for a key worker on a prescribed income, the chance of them buying a home for the first time today, without external help, outside of Wales or the North of England, is minimal,’ he said.
