UK House price affordability eased in the year to April 2024, compared to the previous year, “but this does not change the long-term trend of homes generally being unaffordable in each country since 2006,” according to the latest official data.

In England, an average home sold for £290,000 in the period, while average income was £37,000, giving a ratio of 7.9, says the Office for National Statistics. 

The numbers body classes any home higher than five times average income as unaffordable. 

In Wales, an average home sold for £200,000, while average income was £37,000, giving a ratio of 5.4. 

In Scotland, an average home sold for £185,000, while average income was £35,000, giving a ratio of 5.3. 

While, in Northern Ireland, an average home sold for £168,000, with average income at £36,000, giving a ratio of 4.6. 

The ONS says: “Northern Ireland’s incomes have increased more quickly than house prices in each of the last five years, resulting in it being the only UK country where homes sold for less than five times average household income in the financial year ending 2024.” 

It adds that in Wales and Scotland, a median-priced home was affordable for the highest-income 40% of households, compared with the 10% highest in England. 

Looking across 317 local authorities in England and Wales shows that 9.1% of homes were affordable to those who worked there in 2024, “well below” the start of the series in 1999 when the figure was 69%, the body adds. 

The most affordable local authority was Blaenau Gwent in Wales, where an average home cost 3.6 times average household income. 

The least affordable was Kensington and Chelsea, where an average home cost 35.5 times average household income. 

The most affordable local authority in London was Tower Hamlets, with a ratio of 9.4; all other areas in London had ratios of 12 or higher. 

The government maintains its pledge to build 1.5 million homes by the end of the parliament.