How many years of salary to buy a house in Plymouth?
Buying an average home in Plymouth (South West) takes about 6.1 years of full-time salary: the average house price of £216,463 (HM Land Registry UKHPI, April 2026) divided by median full-time earnings of £35,548 a year (ONS ASHE 2024). That is more affordable than the UK average ratio of 7.2.
- Price-to-earnings ratio
- 6.1×
- years of gross salary
- Average house price
- £216,463
- UKHPI
- Median full-time salary
- £35,548
- ASHE 2024
- 10% deposit
- £21,646
- 15% deposit
- £32,469
- Loan multiple (10% down)
- 5.5×
- lenders cap ~4.5×
How this is measured. This ratio divides the UKHPI average (mean) house price by ASHE full-time median individual earnings. The ONS official “Housing affordability” statistic uses median price ÷ median earnings, so the two are close but not identical. All three inputs are official, open-licensed figures — none are estimated.
Similar areas by affordability
- Swansea5.9× salary
- Newcastle upon Tyne5.9× salary
- Yorkshire and The Humber6.0× salary
- North West6.1× salary
- Wales6.2× salary
- Wolverhampton6.2× salary
See also: rent vs buy in Plymouth · full house prices in Plymouth
Frequently asked questions
- How many years of salary does it take to buy a house in Plymouth?
- In Plymouth the average home costs £216,463 (HM Land Registry UKHPI, April 2026) against full-time median earnings of £35,548 a year (ONS ASHE 2024). That is a house-price-to-earnings ratio of 6.1 — it would take about 6.1 years of gross salary to equal the average house price.
- What deposit do you need to buy in Plymouth?
- A 10% deposit on the £216,463 average Plymouth home is £21,646, and a 15% deposit is £32,469 (based on HM Land Registry UKHPI, April 2026).
- Is buying in Plymouth more or less affordable than the UK average?
- Plymouth's house-price-to-earnings ratio is 6.1, versus 7.2 for the UK as a whole — so buying here is more affordable than the UK average.
- How big a mortgage would you need to buy in Plymouth?
- After a 10% deposit you would need to borrow £194,817 on the average Plymouth home — about 5.5× the £35,548 full-time median salary. Most UK lenders cap mortgages around 4.5× income.
Sources: house price — HM Land Registry — UK House Price Index (UKHPI) (April 2026); earnings — ONS — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. ASHE and UKHPI are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.