Housing affordability largely unchanged in England and Wales in 2018

Housing affordability in England and Wales stayed at similar levels in 2018, following five years of decreasing affordability, but new homes are less affordable, official data shows. On average, full time workers could expect to pay an estimated 7.8 times their annual workplace based earnings on purchasing a home in England and Wales last year, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal. At the local level, London boroughs had the widest range of estimated housing affordability; more than three times the range of any other region while Copeland, in the North West of England, was the most affordable local authority with average house prices being 2.5 times average workplace based annual earnings.