The monthly Woolwich Mortgage Affordability Research showed:
* Annually the increase is up by 0.3 of a percentage point from October 2004 (18.3 per cent) to October 2005 (18.6 per cent)
* Average mortgage payments increased slightly from £511 to £512 from September to October 2005
* London is the only region to show an increase up from 23.4 per cent (September 2005) to 23.5 per cent in October 2005
* Wales and the East Midlands showed the biggest improvement in affordability with drops of 0.2 per cent to 16.2 per cent and 16.3 per cent respectively.
Andy Gray, head of mortgages for the Woolwich said: "As predicted last month, affordability is stabilising, which is a positive trend in the run up to Christmas when people tend to spend more of their disposable income preparing for the festivities."
The Woolwich Mortgage Affordability Research monitors 1.3 million Barclays Group current accounts which have both income and mortgage payment activity on them each month. The scale and diversity of the sample gives a very good representation of mortgage affordability across England and Wales.
