Homes in Oxford are now less affordable to local people than those in any other part of Britain, changing hands for for than 16 times local wages, according to analysis by a leading academic.

Research by Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder professor of geography at the University of Oxford, showed that prices have risen rapidly in the city, pushing property even further from the reach of would-be buyers.

The average cost of a house in Oxford has risen by almost £38,000 during the past year to and now stands at £426,720, while the average income of workers was £26,500.

Meanwhile in London average prices have increased by £45,620 to £501,520 – 15.7 times the average income of £31,950.

Workers in Oxford have long struggled with high prices as restrictions on building in the city have led to a shortage of new homes, and the proximity of London has made it popular with commuters earning higher wages.

In the 2013-14 financial year the council built no affordable homes in the city, and many of those working there are forced to commute in each day from cheaper areas.

Dorling said: “We have seen the ripple from London affect Oxford house prices – it’s like a shockwave coming out of the capital. The average in London is now above £500,000 and once it doesn’t look unusual to ask that much for a property there, it will happen in Oxford too. But we don’t have London weightings on our wages.”

Data from Savills showed that average prices are driven up by expensive homes in the north of the city, where homes changed hands for an average of £1.2m in summer 2014. In St Margarets, this was more than four times the price of properties in cheaper areas such as Cowley and Blackbird Leys.



Dorling said even in the cheaper parts of the city, prices were still running at six or seven times local pay.

His analysis, which was done for the new edition of his book All that is Solid: How the Great Housing Disaster defines our Times and What We Can Do About It, showed other affordability crunch points outside the capital.

In Cambridge properties are changing hands for 14.8 times local wages, in Brighton the figure is 12.2 times, in Reading 10.1 times and in Milton Keynes 8 times.

Cities outside the south-east were more affordable. In Liverpool homes are fetching 5.8 times incomes; in Derby 6.2 times, Nottingham 6.8 times, Swansea 6.7 times and Birmingham 7.3 times.

Dorling said: “Compared with earlier decades, house prices across the UK are extremely high when compared with the average take home pay. The more ‘affordable’ parts of the country also have high ratios that just look relatively better compared with the unprecedented expense of current housing costs in London and Oxford.”