“Rutland, the smallest historic county in England, remains the least affordable authority in the East Midlands, while in the West Midlands it is Malvern Hills.
“In Yorkshire and The Humber, the district of Ryedale in North Yorkshire continues to have the highest house price to earnings ratio, despite seeing weaker price growth over the last year than most of the region. This predominately rural area includes towns such as Malton and Pickering.
“The least affordable area in the North West government region is South Lakeland in Cumbria, which includes parts of the popular Lake District national park, including Ambleside and Windermere.
“In Wales, the Vale of Glamorgan replaced Cardiff as the least affordable area. Prices in the Vale, which includes Barry, rose by 17% year-on-year, reflecting a trend in Wales of stronger price growth in areas outside of the major cities.
“While in Scotland, Edinburgh continues to have the highest house price to earnings ratio, average house prices in the capital are significantly higher than other parts of Scotland.
“North Tyneside is the least affordable area within the North East, although average prices are only around four times average earnings, so this is still relatively affordable compared to some of the other locations in our list. The North East region also has the smallest gap between the least and most affordable authorities.
Most affordable local authorities
“We’ve also looked at the most affordable areas, based on the local authorities with the lowest first time buyer house price to earnings ratio within each region.
| Most affordable local authorities | ||
| Govt Office Region | Local Authority | HPER
(2021) |
| Scotland | East Ayrshire | 2.4 |
| North West | Copeland | 2.8 |
| North East | County Durham | 3.1 |
| Wales | Merthyr Tydfil | 3.4 |
| Yorkshire* | Barnsley | 3.7 |
| West Midlands | Stoke-on-Trent | 3.8 |
| East Midlands | Bolsover | 4.0 |
| East of England | Great Yarmouth | 5.0 |
| South West | Swindon | 5.4 |
| South East | Southampton | 5.6 |
| London | Bromley | 7.4 |
* Refers to Yorkshire and The Humber
“East Ayrshire, in Scotland, continues to be the most affordable authority in Great Britain, with average first time buyer house prices just 2.4 times average earnings. East Ayrshire covers a large geographic area to the south of Glasgow, but its main towns are Kilmarnock and Cumnock.
“Copeland remains the most affordable area in the North West of England, despite average prices rising 11% over the last year. While the area includes parts of the western Lake District, its main settlements are along the Cumbrian coast from Millom to Whitehaven.
