A COUNCIL report has highlighted a ‘troubling’ issue involving housing in Warrington.

A report has been prepared ahead of the meeting of Warrington Borough Council’s Housing Policy Committee this month detailing the town’s ‘housing background’.

This states that a ‘key challenge’ for the town is ensuring the delivery of more affordable open market homes.

This is due to Warrington being the third most expensive area in the north west on average in terms of buying a new property.

The report gives general details on Warrington’s housing demands, with the borough having a resident population of 210,900 in the 2021 Census, comprising 90,540 households.

Nearly one in five are aged over 65, and this proportion is anticipated to grow to over a quarter of the population during the course of the Local Plan period.

Conversely, the 35 to 49 age group is reducing, and the median age of the borough’s population is now 42, up from 40 in 2011.

Approximately eight per cent of the town’s population are registered with a serious disability.

The report confirms that the majority of residents, namely 70 per cent, either own their own home or have a mortgage, while approximately 15 per cent live in social rented accommodation, and 1.3 per cent live in HMOs or other shared rented accommodation.

In line with national trends, the private rented sector is increasing in importance in the borough, with 15.2 per cent of residents now in this sector, up from 11.2 per cent in 2011.

There are approximately 14,000 social homes in the borough, the report states.

“In the national context, Warrington is ‘mid-table’ for affordability,” the committee is told.

“In terms of home ownership, Warrington South and North ranked 368 and 429 respectively out of 572 constituencies.

“In terms of rental affordability, Warrington was ranked 218 out of 311 local authority areas.

“The average house in the borough now costs, on average, 6.9 times the average household income, compared with 8.1 nationally.

“Affordability has, however, decreased markedly over the past 20 years. While earnings have, on average, doubled, house prices have increased by more than 4.5 times.

“It is estimated that 43 per cent of newly forming households cannot reasonably afford to purchase or rent across the borough, and for young people and single women, the figure is far higher.

“Even more troubling, however, is the average cost of new properties in the borough.

“Warrington is now the third most expensive area in the north west to buy a new home, with the average asking price being £427,000.

“This reflects the dominant house type being delivered in the borough’s principal new housing areas, which concentrate on the supply of executive homes serving the affluent commuter market, rather than more modest local needs.

“Nevertheless, even the cost of new starter homes in the borough has increased by nearly 40 per cent over the past five years.

“One of the key challenges facing the borough will be to ensure the delivery of more affordable open market homes that meet growing local needs, particularly from young people and newly forming households, in the face of a commercial market that views Warrington as being a key commuter location.”