No areas see improvement in housing affordability in 2018: ONS

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 in 2018.

Housing affordability in England and Wales stayed at similar levels in 2018, following five years of decreasing affordability.

The ONS said the affordability ratio has increased by 0.8% since 2017, but that the change is "not statistically significant".

Copeland, in the North West of England, remained the most affordable local authority in England and Wales in 2018; with average house prices at 2.5 times average annual earnings.

Kensington and Chelsea remained the least affordable local authority in 2018, with average house prices at 44.5 times earnings.

77 local authorities became less affordable over the last five year, with the majority in London, the South East and the East of England, but there were no areas in which affordability improved.

Andrew Montlake, director of Coreco, said: “That affordability hasn’t improved in one single local authority is proof positive of how the lack of supply has propped up house prices despite ongoing market uncertainty.

"While getting a foot on the ladder in certain regions of the UK is eminently achievable, in others it is borderline impossible for a significant chunk of the population.

“It’s no surprise that we are seeing such a fundamental shift towards the private rented sector.

"Unless you’ve got a sizeable deposit and a pretty decent income, buying in the south east corner of the UK is little more than a pipe dream.”

Property expert and Yomdel CEO, Andy Soloman, commented: “An almost static movement in the rate of housing affordability is, in some ways, positive news for UK home buyers and one consequence of a bodged Brexit process that we can chalk down as a win of sorts.

"However, while the rate of unaffordability has slowed significantly since 2013, this slowdown is coming off the back of five years of a progressive unaffordability which somewhat takes the shine off today's news.

"Of late we’ve seen higher rates of employment, an improvement in wage inflation to outstrip RPI and CPI and a slow in-house price growth, but with the UK market so drastically inflated from years of upward growth, it will take far more than a dose of market uncertainty to relevel the affordability playing field.

"It’s far more likely that once the political dust has settled an uplift in demand, spurred by this static movement in affordability, will see the gap widen further and so now is the time to get ahead of the game and get on the ladder before it happens.”