Median price paid for a home leapt 259% between 1997 and 2016 while earnings rose only 68%, say ONS affordability data

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Rising house prices now stand at an average 7.6 times the average annual salary, more than double the figure for 20 years ago, according to official figures.

However, the new headline figure disguises dramatic regional variations. In the affluent London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, house prices are typically 38.5 times greater than annual earnings, but, 330 miles to the north-west, prices in Copeland, Cumbria, which includes the port of Whitehaven, are typically 2.8 times the average salary.



The new figures for housing affordability in England and Wales between 1997 and 2016 have been issued by the Office for National Statistics. They said the median price paid for a home leapt by 259% over this period, while median individual annual earnings could only manage a 68% rise.



The ONS said housing affordability “has worsened in all local authority districts”. In 1997, house prices were on average about 3.6 times workers’ annual gross full-time earnings.



In 2016, Kensington and Chelsea was the least affordable area to buy a property in England and Wales. The ratio of house prices to annual income stood at 38.5 times average annual salary – more than three times the figure in 1997, when it was 11.8 times earnings. In January this year a detached house in the borough sold for £24.2m, according to the Land Registry.

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Copeland, meanwhile, has been officially named “the most affordable” local authority area in England and Wales. A two-bed terraced property in Whitehaven can be picked up for £45,000 or so, according to the property website Rightmove.



Of the 10 least affordable local authorities, seven were in London. For example, in 1999, an employee in the borough of Camden could expect to pay 7.7 times their annual salary on buying a property, whereas in 2016 this had leapt to an average 19.6 times their annual earnings.



Other areas saw much smaller increases over the same period. In Hyndburn in Lancashire, the equivalent figure has risen from 2.6 times to 4.1 times earnings.

