A NEW map reveals the cheapest places to buy houses in England and Wales – everywhere from untouched countryside to a party city.
It’s based off house price and wages data gathered by the Office for National Statistics from 2024, calculating how affordable properties are in an area.
Top ten most affordable places in England and Wales
THE affordability ratio is the average number of years of salary needed to buy a house.
Therefore, a lower figure means the area is more affordable.
Here are the top ten most affordable places:
1. Blaenau Gwent (Wales): affordability ratio 3.75 – £130,000 average house price – £34,635 average wage
2. Burnley (NW England): 3.86 – £116,500 – £30,216
3. Blackpool (NW England): 3.92 – £133,000 – £33,918
4. Blackburn with Darwen (NW England): 4.06 – £143,500 – £35,310
5. Hull (Yorkshire/Humber): 4.09 – £135,000 – £33,024
6. County Durham (NE England): 4.14 – £130,000 – £31,365
7. Neath Port Talbot (Wales): 4.17 – £155,000 – £37,130
8. Sunderland (NE England): 4.25 – £140,000 – £32,923
9. Hartlepool (NE England): 4.25 – £140,000 – £32,947
10. Hyndburn (NW England): 4.29 – £130,000 – £30,272
Affordability in England and Wales has returned to pre-Covid levels[/caption]
A lower figure means more affordable homes – because it represents the number of years’ worth of salary that are needed to pay the average house price.
The most affordable spot is Blaenau Gwent in Wales.
The ratio there is just 3.75 – based on an average house price of £130,000 and an average wage of £34,635.
And the least affordable area is – no surprises- the Kensington and Chelsea borough of London.
That neighbourhood has an eye-watering 27.09 ratio, with an average house price of £1.2million and earnings at £44,300.
Despite London being much less affordable than most other parts of the country, the capital has actually become more affordable since last year.
The price-wage ratio has fallen to its lowest in more than a decade, which could suggest people are turning their backs on the city.
In the borough of Tower Hamlets, the figure plummeted from 8.4 in 2023 to 7.3 in 2024.
That’s the lowest for the borough since 2013.
The decrease was driven by rocketing wages and falling house prices.
Other boroughs where this happened include Greenwich, Lambeth, Hackney and Southwark.
The data shows that across England and Wales, houses have returned to pre-Covid levels of affordability, after years of financial squeeze.
Last year, the average home in England cost 7.7 times the average salary – a significant drop from 8.4 in 2023.
Wales also became more affordable, with the figure dropping from 6.2 in 2023 to 5.9 in 2024.
The least affordable year across the board was 2021, when the pandemic drove up prices and salaries down.
In that year, the figure for England was sky-high at 9.06, and in Wales peaked at 6.56.
But the 2024 data indicates a welcome return to 2019 levels.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Wages have risen faster than house prices in recent years, so would-be buyers are inching slightly closer to being able to afford a home of their own.
“However, last year the average home in England still cost 7.7 times the average wage, so it’s still an incredible stretch – especially given stubbornly high interest rates.
“Housing is considered affordable when it costs five times earnings, and still fewer than one in 10 areas have reached this level.”
Houses in England and Wales were more affordable in 2024 than the previous three years[/caption]
