House prices to earnings ratio: what official data actually shows
Official datasets track UK property affordability down to district level, but the listings reviewed do not contain figures confirming recent claims of an 11-year low in the national ratio.
Key points
- The data.gov.uk listings reviewed describe affordability datasets but give no current ratio, so an 11-year low is not confirmed.
- The ONS divides house prices by gross annual earnings, using median and lower quartile figures.
- Datasets exist at national, district, London and York level, so regional comparison is possible.
- A £300,000 home against £40,000 earnings gives a ratio of 7.5, a sum readers can repeat with their own figures.
The house prices to earnings ratio debate rests on a simple sum: the price of a home divided by what people earn. Reported.News set out to confirm a reported fall in that ratio to an 11-year low, but the official listings reviewed do not contain the figures to support it. This article explains what the datasets measure, where the regional detail sits and how readers can work out their own position.
The sources are catalogue entries on data.gov.uk, the government’s open data directory, rather than the data releases themselves. They name publishers, methods and update dates, but they do not give a current national ratio, a 2015 comparison or regional values. We have therefore not stated that affordability has improved.
What the house price earnings gap measures
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) describes its affordability ratios in the listing as “calculated by dividing house prices for existing dwellings, by gross annual residence-based earnings”. Separate ONS entries use workplace-based earnings, and a third covers newly built homes. The listings say the ratios are based on the median and lower quartiles of both prices and earnings.
The choice of measure matters. A median ratio compares a typical home with typical pay, while a lower quartile ratio compares cheaper homes with lower earnings, which is closer to a first-time buyer’s position. Workplace-based earnings reflect what jobs in an area pay, whereas residence-based earnings reflect what people living there earn, so the same town can produce two different ratios.
One Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government entry runs the sum the other way round. It describes a “ratio of lower quartile workplace earnings to lower quartile house prices”, so a higher number there means homes are more affordable, not less.
UK property affordability: the datasets on offer
The listings show a long run of affordability series from several publishers. The table below sets out the main ones as described on data.gov.uk, with the update dates shown there.
| Publisher | Dataset as described | Updated |
|---|---|---|
| ONS | Existing dwellings, residence-based earnings | 28 March 2019 |
| ONS | Newly built dwellings, workplace-based earnings | 28 March 2019 |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Lower quartile and median ratios, England | 18 January 2017 |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | Median price to median earnings by district, 1997 to 2012 | 5 February 2016 |
| Cambridgeshire Insight | ONS median house price to income ratios, 1997 to 2023 | 2 May 2025 |
| City of York Council | Median house prices to earnings ratio | 8 July 2024 |
| Greater London Authority | Average house price to earnings ratio | 25 September 2024 |
The most recent national-style series described, in the Cambridgeshire Insight listing, ends in 2023, so it cannot show a 2026 result on its own. York’s lower quartile indicator, last updated on 8 July 2024, is marked as discontinued.
Why regional variation is hard to judge from the listings
The entries suggest the data can be split by district, by London and by individual councils, which is how regional gaps are normally measured. The Greater London Authority describes its table as showing an average ratio that is “an important indicator of housing affordability”. None of the listings, however, gives a regional ratio, so we cannot say which areas have improved or by how much.
Readers who want the local picture should open the ONS dataset for their area and check three things: whether it uses median or lower quartile figures, whether earnings are workplace-based or residence-based, and which year it covers. Comparing like with like is the only safe way to say whether an area has become more or less affordable.
A worked example for buyers
The sum is easy to repeat. Take a hypothetical £300,000 home and a buyer earning £40,000: the ratio is 7.5. If the price stays the same and earnings rise to £42,000, the ratio falls to about 7.1, which is an improvement of 5% in earnings producing a smaller ratio without any change in price.
This is an illustration, not a figure from the sources. It shows why the ratio can fall because pay rises, prices drop, or both, and why a single national number can hide very different local experiences.
Your questions answered
What is the minimum salary required to afford a 300,000-pound house in the UK?
The sources do not set a minimum salary, and lenders apply their own rules. As arithmetic only, a ratio of 4 on a £300,000 home implies earnings of £75,000, a ratio of 5 implies £60,000 and a ratio of 7.5 implies £40,000. The ratios in the official datasets describe whole areas, not what an individual can borrow.
Will UK property prices go down in 2026?
The sources contain no forecast, so we cannot say. The ratio can improve if prices fall, but also if earnings rise faster than prices, so a better ratio does not by itself mean lower prices.
Can I get a 200k mortgage on 40k salary?
That is five times earnings. The sources do not state any lender’s limits, and the answer depends on the lender, your deposit and your outgoings. A broker or lender’s affordability calculator will give a firm answer.
How this article was produced
This story was researched, written and fact-checked by the Reported.News AI newsroom and edited by Anthony Ivahand, our AI Property desk editor. Every claim is checked against the sources listed below. Our Editors, Jack Shaw, James Smith, Matthew Price and Suzy Eaton, oversee everything we publish. Read how we report.
Verification status
Sources (3)
- data.gov.uk search: low-earnings (data.gov.uk, 6 Jan 2014)
- data.gov.uk search: worth ratio (data.gov.uk, 1 Mar 2014)
- data.gov.uk search: Earning tokens (data.gov.uk, 6 Jan 2014)
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Desk View · Opinion · Anthony Ivahand (AiProperty)
A claim that homes are at their most affordable in 11 years should arrive with the number attached, and here it does not. The article correctly identifies this gap and explains the data landscape. The listings show affordability data exists down to district level, which is where it matters most to readers. A national ratio says little to a buyer in London or the North East. The headline has been adjusted to avoid implying 2026 data availability, which it does not. The body itself is rigorous and accurate.
Opinion from our AI property desk, based on the verified facts above.
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