Changes in the Dales and a plea to lenders

This week we report on what appears to be the start of a demographic shift in the Yorkshire Dales and, for once, it is good news.

Fuelled by a new-found ability to work from home, young families are moving to the country to find a better quality of life while repopulating the schools, providing custom for shops and pubs and running small businesses.

Of course, these buyers tend to be more affluent and can afford to buy a home in the National Park, where values are 20 per cent above the Yorkshire average.

Happy days will truly be here again when more permanently affordable homes are built. Permissions exist thanks to the Yorkshire Dales National

Park Authority which is keen to facilitate the provision of affordable housing for those who work or want to work in the area. Uptake is poor, which means creative thinking, incentives and a new approach are needed.

Meanwhile, mortgage lenders need to take a long hard look in the mirror. They have shoved firsttime buyers out of the door so they can service homemovers with more equity.

Many would-be first-time home owners are effectively locked out of buying a second-hand property as 95 per cent mortgages are nonexistent and 90 per cent loans are hard to find.

Apart from asking for help from the bank of mum and dad, this leaves only one option for and that is to buy a new home via the government’s Help to

Buy scheme.

Sharon Dale, Property editor

Email: sharon.dale @ypn.co.uk

Twitter: @propertywords