Classnotes: 2nd February: Transects of a typical city / Access to housing

Transects of a typical city
This involves taking a cross section (like cutting it in half) and looking how housing etc changes the further from the CBD the zone is. It is difficult to show on the blog, so ask Mr Burdett for details of the powerpoint we used if you need help.

Access to Housing
Access means 'are you able to get to it', in this case 'are you able to get the house you want'.
There are different ways to pay for the house you live in. This is called housing tenture. Housing tenure means "The conditions under which a household inhabits its home" (put simply, whether they own it or rent it, and who from).
There are three main types of housing tenure:
- Owner occupied – the person living there owns the house
- Privately rented – the person living there rents from an individual who makes a profit
- Council rented – the person living there rents from the local council, which is usually cheaper than privately renting

Some people struggle to afford to buy their own house. One way to get around this is to take out a mortgage with a building society or bank. A mortgage is a special type of loan used to buy a house. The amount you can borrow depends on the amount you earn. Typically you are allowed to borrow about three times your annual income, so a person earning £30,000 would be allowed to borrow about £90,000. It is usually paid back over about 25 years. HOwever, you might have heard that house prices are more expensive than ever before now, so often you are allowed to borrow up to 4 times your annual income, and over a longer period of up to 35 years (this means you have to pay less each month).