Vince Cable

According to the latest figures of the Halifax Building Society, the average (June) house price in Twickenham is £366,000, 6% up on a year ago (as against an average London price of £293,000, 8% up and an average UK price of £188,000, 6% up). The average mortgage size is £336,000 which Vincent Cable MP said was "absolutely staggering. What these figures tell us is either that the average new house purchaser has an income of over £100,000 or that young families are borrowing dangerously high multiples of their income."

The same source shows that the average local income is only £23,000. Vincent Cable commented: "People on average incomes can no longer afford to live locally unless they are older and have already largely completed the repayment of their mortgage. Young people of modest incomes have no hope at all which accounts for the desperation of a lot of the young families I meet who are priced out of the rental and purchase market."