Is there a housing crisis?

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Vital numbers.

Annual house price inflation in February was +1.9% - it was 2.2% pa in January (says ONS)

Average house price in January was £233,000 (says ONS)

Ave asking price in April £244,706 up 2.1% pa - £239,710 in March 2012 (says Rightmove)

Nº of homes sold in March across UK 86k - 89k in Mar 2012 (says HMRC)

Nº of months of unsold inventory - 10

Ave price paid by a First-Time Buyer was 1.6% higher than in Feb 2012 (says ONS)

The average cost of renting a home in the UK increased 2.4%pa in March to £793pcm - (says HomeLet)

Renting in London now costs £1,236pcm on average, 4.8% higher than a year ago. - (says HomeLet)

Average sale prices in England & Wales still 11% below their peak in Nov 2007. They are 15% across Wales and 20% below in the North West (says Land Registry)

1 in 12 home owners with a mortgage in the UK (719k) is in negative equity (CML via G Norwood)

Latest from Twitter

RT @MerrynSW: 9.6m families (30% of total) get 50% plus of their income from benefits (Sun Times/CSJ) Time ago 7 Hours via TweetDeck
RT @MerrynSW: 1.5m UK children (1 in 5) are growing up in a house in which no one has a job (Sun Times). 2nd highest number in Europe. Time ago 7 Hours via TweetDeck
My chat earlier with lovely @SkyLornaD on @SkyNews of Bank of England Governors concerns over Government #Help2Buy. t.co/Fr1JlBlLI4 Time ago 7 Hours via OS X
@tweeniell Thanks Alex, very kind. Time ago 9 Hours via TweetDeck
Thanks to the lovely @SkyLornaD & all at @SkyNews for Sunday evening hospitality. You were right, that glass of red is just what was needed! Time ago 9 Hours via TweetDeck
On @SkyNews at 6.15pm talking to @SkyLornaD about Mervyn King comments on #Help2Buy. Is there anyone now who thinks MIG's are a good idea? Time ago 13 Hours via TweetDeck

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Henry Pryor

Is there a housing crisis?