YORK council leader James Alexander says the authority is committed to building more affordable homes in York.

The Labour councillor was responding to claims by Lloyds Bank researchers, reported in The Press yesterday, that house prices in the city have soared to almost six times average earnings, making it one of the most expensive places to live in the UK.

Councillor Alexander said that plans to build up to 70 new council homes had been announced last September and the authority would establish where new homes needed to be built so it could further increases.

He claimed York’s affordability had improved over the last couple of years, demonstrated through recent Centre for Cities 2014 outlook figures placing York 12th for its ‘affordability ratio’ from position 17 in 2013.