The Banks Are Wrong?

This morning on the way into work I was listening to news and there was an article that raised my eyebrow; much to the confusion of the other road users.

A recent article stated:

There are warnings that hundreds of thousands of people are at risk from losing their homes because they can’t keep up their mortgage payments. Debt-help groups say banks are lending five or six times applicants salaries.

Now in my local town you can get all sorts of houses; right from the council estate concrete boxes up to a detached period homes. I am not stuck up or living with my head up my ass but I want to live in a respectable area and dwelling which means that the average cost to get your foot on the ladder is £160,000. Now going by that and according to what the report claims, only lending me 4 times my wage, this means I should have an annual salary of at least £40,000 before I think about buying a house.

£40,000 a year wage packet before I can get a house. If that was the case I would be driving around the countryside in a spanking new 5 series!
Figures are great, you can make them look like anything you want but out here in the real world you have to make that critical decision to spend the rest of your life in debt just to put a roof over your head.