Home-owning pipe dream edges out of sight as first-time buyers need a £53,000 income to buy a house
The average income needed for a first-time buyer to jump onto the property ladder has shot up 18 per cent in the last three years, in the latest sign that the dream of homeownership is becoming increasingly distant for many young professionals.
Only three out of 20 major UK cities have become more affordable since 2015, according to today’s figures from analytics group Hometrack.
The average minimum wage needed for a first-time buyer to snap up a home in a major UK city has grown to £53,000, compared with £45,000 in 2015.
Read more: Transport for London ramps up property ambitions with new partnership
Wages needed to buy a home outright were highest in London, where buyers need an average income of £82,000 to purchase a property.
However, the steepest drops in affordability have been in Bristol and Manchester, where growing house prices have pushed up the income needed for a first-time buyer by nearly 25 per cent.
Despite maintaining its status as the country’s most unaffordable city, London has also seen some of the strongest falls in house prices, with values in August dropping 0.3 per cent year-on-year.
Read more: UK house price growth sinks to five-year low
The port city of Aberdeen suffered the sharpest fall in house prices, plunging 3.7 per cent year-on-year to August.
Meanwhile, Liverpool experienced the highest rise in prices, jumping 7.5 per cent in the last 12 months.