The south west of England is now the least affordable place to buy a property in the UK. According to the housing charity Shelter people in the south west spend 23.3% of their salary on their mortgage. The annual study, carried out by Steve Wilcox of York University and called Roof, revealed that the south west has overtaken London where people spend 22.8% of their salaries. The average spend in the UK is 19.9%. Director of Shelter Adam Sampson said: “The point of Roof’s findings is that they show not only how difficult it is for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder, but that there will be extra pressure on the limited social housing stock.” A separate report by the Alliance and Leicester also predicted that 90% of buyers will be paying stamp duty on their first property by 2008.