How many years of salary to buy a house?
The house-price-to-earnings ratio divides the average house price by full-time median earnings — roughly the number of years of gross salary it takes to equal the price of a home. Across the UK the ratio is 7.2× (£270,080 average price ÷ £37,439 median salary). Below are 38 UK cities and regions, least affordable first.
| Area | Avg price | Median salary | Years to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Londonregion | £552,655 | £47,455 | 11.6× |
| Oxford | £475,481 | £41,052 | 11.6× |
| Brighton and Hove | £406,137 | £37,376 | 10.9× |
| Cambridge | £462,145 | £43,204 | 10.7× |
| South Eastregion | £376,819 | £39,038 | 9.7× |
| East of Englandregion | £336,300 | £36,949 | 9.1× |
| Bristol | £353,662 | £39,441 | 9.0× |
| South Westregion | £302,618 | £35,634 | 8.5× |
| Milton Keynes | £318,038 | £40,846 | 7.8× |
| Reading | £345,112 | £45,843 | 7.5× |
| Cardiff | £271,166 | £36,199 | 7.5× |
| Leicester | £234,631 | £31,954 | 7.3× |
| West Midlandsregion | £250,625 | £34,938 | 7.2× |
| East Midlandsregion | £241,620 | £33,973 | 7.1× |
| Leeds | £246,882 | £36,770 | 6.7× |
| Manchester | £247,344 | £37,102 | 6.7× |
| Norwich | £230,372 | £34,747 | 6.6× |
| Portsmouth | £250,377 | £38,613 | 6.5× |
| Southampton | £234,150 | £36,981 | 6.3× |
| Birmingham | £235,682 | £37,295 | 6.3× |
| Wolverhampton | £215,264 | £34,733 | 6.2× |
| Walesregion | £212,489 | £34,303 | 6.2× |
| North Westregion | £216,138 | £35,170 | 6.1× |
| Plymouth | £216,463 | £35,548 | 6.1× |
| Yorkshire and The Humberregion | £207,974 | £34,401 | 6.0× |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £209,071 | £35,212 | 5.9× |
| Swansea | £206,254 | £34,834 | 5.9× |
| Nottingham | £192,543 | £33,027 | 5.8× |
| Coventry | £218,334 | £37,520 | 5.8× |
| Wakefield | £196,895 | £33,991 | 5.8× |
| Bradford | £188,505 | £32,639 | 5.8× |
| Derby | £205,065 | £39,756 | 5.2× |
| Liverpool | £183,615 | £36,579 | 5.0× |
| Scotlandregion | £191,927 | £38,315 | 5.0× |
| North Eastregion | £163,190 | £32,960 | 5.0× |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £152,101 | £32,986 | 4.6× |
| Sunderland | £145,293 | £32,927 | 4.4× |
| Hull | £135,051 | £33,009 | 4.1× |
Sources: HM Land Registry — UK House Price Index (UKHPI) (April 2026) and ONS — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024. Joined on exact ONS GSS geography codes. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Both datasets are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.