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Only the richest 10 per cent of households in the country can afford to buy an average-priced home in England, according to new figures that lay bare the state of the housing market.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the cost of purchasing a property was “unaffordable” in every region of the UK, except Northern Ireland, due to decades of house price rises that have outpaced household wages.
It said it would take some 8.6 years of average annual household disposable income in England – £35,000 – to afford an average-priced home worth £298,000 last year. That is almost double the ratio recorded in 1999.
An average-priced home in England was around 18.2 times the income of the lowest-income 10 per cent of households last year, compared with 12.3 in Scotland, 11.2 in Wales and 9.3 in Northern Ireland.
In England, the average house price-to-income ratio was 8.6, in Wales it was 5.8 and in Scotland it was 5.6 in the financial year ending in 2023.
The average house price was £298,000 in England, £205,000 in Wales, £185,000 in Scotland and £160,000 in Northern Ireland.
The Independent has analysed average house prices and yearly salaries in each local authority district across the country to find the most and least affordable places to live.
The map below shows how affordable houses in your area are compared to the median salary. The darker areas on the map show the least affordable regions in the country.
The least affordable areas in the country, according to The Independent’s analysis (house price to earnings ratio):
- Kensington and Chelsea – 29.8
- Richmond upon Thames – 22.3
- Barnet – 20.3
- Westminster – 20.2
- Haringey – 19.3
- Elmbridge – 19
- Camden – 18.4
- Cotswold – 18.4
- Hammersmith and Fulham – 18.3
- Sevenoaks – 18.1
The most affordable local authority areas (house price to earnings ratio):
- Aberdeen City – 4.1
- Burnley – 4.2
- North Ayrshire – 4.3
- North Lanarkshire – 4.4
- Hyndburn – 4.6
- West Dunbartonshire – 4.8
- Dundee City – 4.8
- County Durham – 4.9
- Inverclyde – 4.9
- Kingston upon Hull – 4.9
Overview of areas of the UK:
- In England, only the top 10 per cent of households in England by income could afford an average-priced home with five years of household income in the financial year ending in 2023.
- In Wales, the top 30 per cent of households by income would have been able to afford an average-priced home
- In Scotland the figure was 40 per cent, according to the ONS.
- In Northern Ireland, an average-priced home was affordable with an average household income, with a typical house price-to-disposable household income ratio there of 5.0.
Responding to the ONS report, Labour MP Chris Curtis, co-chairman of the Labour Growth Group and a member of the Housing Select Committee, said: “These figures demonstrate the staggering scale of our country’s housing crisis and underline the urgency of the task facing this Government to end it.”
He added: “We need to grow our economy so that rising pay packets mean it’s not just the privileged few who can afford to get on the housing ladder.
“Alongside this, we need to be truly radical in reforming the broken planning system and explore innovative solutions to crowd private investment into building more affordable and social housing.”
Labour has said it wants to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years and has announced plans to reform the planning system to free up more development.
The Independent obtained earnings data from the ONS, which shows median incomes in each local authority district. This was compared to the Land Registry’s house price index for September 2024.
