The average asking price in April broke the previous high of £310,471 reached in June 2016 [Image: Bloomberg/Getty Images].

The fact that average house prices in the UK have hit a new record high means they are further than ever before from the reach of the people who need them most.

This Writer must, therefore, agree with Jeremy Corbyn, who tweeted: “This has gone way too far. Labour will build homes that people can actually afford to live in.”

That’s right – Labour plans to build a million new houses over the five years after victory in the general election on June 8 – half of them council houses.

This will bring the average house price down – and This Writer can already hear the naysayers bleating about it.

“It’ll harm the economy!”

“It’ll create negative equity!”

What they really mean is, “It’ll ruin my investment!”

That may be so, but the complainers – all of whom will, of course, be rich – are facing a dilemma of their own making.

They allowed the Tories to come into power and the Tories allowed house building to slow down to almost nothing – specifically in order to raise prices beyond the reach of the poor and those on average wages or salaries.

It’s part of the Conservative Party’s war on the poor – intentionally making the essentials of life so expensive, and work so ill-paid, that people have to take any jobs they can – no matter how awful – simply to try to make ends meet.

The economy won’t be harmed by Labour’s house-building programme, of course.

Building work is hugely beneficial to an economy, and the multiplier effect means any government investment in house-building will result in a much larger increase in prosperity.

Once poorer people are able to get homes of their own again, they’ll have more disposable cash – and we all know (don’t we?) that the economy benefits the most from the multiplier effect if money goes through the highest number of owners, as it would if it started out in the hands of the poorest.

So let’s deride the economically-illiterate newsrags that have applauded the house-price disaster…

And praise the Labour Party for setting out a sensible policy to address the problem.

The housing market continues to defy fears of a post-referendum slump after sellers’ asking prices hit a new record high of more than £313,000 on average in April.

Across England and Wales, the average price tag on a property being put on the market increased by £3,547 – or 1.1% month-on-month – to reach £313,655.

Source: Asking prices for homes rise to record average of £313,655 | Money | The Guardian

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