Homes in the North West are almost twice as unaffordable to buy as they were back in 1999, with the average household paying more than six times their annual disposable income for a house.
That means the average household has to spend 6.1 times their income to buy the average house. Back in 1999, the earliest date available, the average home cost just 3.6 times the average household’s income.Homes aren’t at their most unaffordable, however. In 2008, the time of the financial crash, the average home cost 6.7 times the average salary. Across England as a whole, the average household has to spend 8.7 times their income to buy the average house.
In the South East it’s 10.0 times the average, while in the East of England it’s 9.7. The average house in the South West costs 8.9 times. In the West Midlands it’s 7.5 times, in the East Midlands 6.8, in Yorkshire and the Humber 6.2, and in the North East it’s 5.5.