How many years of salary to buy a house in Southampton?
Buying an average home in Southampton (South East) takes about 6.3 years of full-time salary: the average house price of £234,150 (HM Land Registry UKHPI, April 2026) divided by median full-time earnings of £36,981 a year (ONS ASHE 2024). That is more affordable than the UK average ratio of 7.2.
- Price-to-earnings ratio
- 6.3×
- years of gross salary
- Average house price
- £234,150
- UKHPI
- Median full-time salary
- £36,981
- ASHE 2024
- 10% deposit
- £23,415
- 15% deposit
- £35,123
- Loan multiple (10% down)
- 5.7×
- 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
- Wales6.2× salary
- Wolverhampton6.2× salary
- Birmingham6.3× salary
- Portsmouth6.5× salary
- Norwich6.6× salary
- Manchester6.7× salary
See also: rent vs buy in Southampton · full house prices in Southampton
Frequently asked questions
- How many years of salary does it take to buy a house in Southampton?
- In Southampton the average home costs £234,150 (HM Land Registry UKHPI, April 2026) against full-time median earnings of £36,981 a year (ONS ASHE 2024). That is a house-price-to-earnings ratio of 6.3 — it would take about 6.3 years of gross salary to equal the average house price.
- What deposit do you need to buy in Southampton?
- A 10% deposit on the £234,150 average Southampton home is £23,415, and a 15% deposit is £35,123 (based on HM Land Registry UKHPI, April 2026).
- Is buying in Southampton more or less affordable than the UK average?
- Southampton's house-price-to-earnings ratio is 6.3, 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 Southampton?
- After a 10% deposit you would need to borrow £210,735 on the average Southampton home — about 5.7× the £36,981 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.