PRICE tags for the average home in Stroud district are more than nine times the average salary, new figures have shown.

In 2016 the average yearly salary in the district was just over £29,000 – yet the average cost of a house in the Five Valleys now stands at £266,000.

The income required for 80 per cent mortgage in the district in 2016 was £60,808 It makes Stroud the third most expensive place to live in Gloucestershire after Cheltenham and the Cotswolds.

Meanwhile, the typical monthly private sector rents are equal to almost a third of Stroud worker’s average take home pay.

Average rents from private landlords in the district in 2016 were £722 – which is 30 per cent of an average Stroud employee’s wage bill.

These figures have been shown in the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) annual report on the state of England’s housing market – Home Truths.

The new data shows that in 2015/16, there were also 411 empty homes, 551 second homes and 1,885 housing association affordable properties in Stroud district.

Figures from the ONS also show that 22 per cent of people in employment in the district needed to claim housing benefit to afford to live.

The cost to live in Stroud is still slightly above the average in Gloucestershire as a whole.

The average house price in the county in 2016 was £260,817 and average monthly private sector rents were £716.

Stroud News and Journal:

The Home Truths report says: “The South West faces a combination of high house prices and low wages resulting in an acute housing crisis.

“With cities, historical towns, many rural communities and long stretches of coast this is a diverse region with pockets of deprivation.

“The average house price is over £256,000 and in some areas it is much higher – house prices in the Cotswolds are almost 50 per cent higher than the regional average.

“House prices are more than 10 times the average salary and households would need a pay rise of £33,600 to afford the average home.

“The average cost of renting is over £700 a month, swallowing up around 35% of local incomes “House prices in rural areas are roughly £6,500 higher than in urban areas. At the same time, incomes in these areas are lower, meaning that those living in rural areas face an additional squeeze on their finances.

“More than one in five second homes in England are found in the South West.”