How UK house prices have soared ahead of average wages

The average house price is 65 times higher than in 1970 but average wages are only 36 times higher.

Houses adorn a famous London street on a Monopoly board. (Photo By Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

UK house prices rose by 10.2 per cent in the year to 2021, new figures showed yesterday – the highest annual growth rate since August 2007.

Since 2000, house price growth has significantly outpaced wage growth

UK average house prices and weekly earnings (12-month rolling average), indexed to Jan 1970

Since 2000, UK house price growth has significantly outpaced the rise in average earnings. The average house in March 2021 cost more than 65 times the average UK home in January 1970, but average weekly wages were only 35.8 times higher, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

On the average weekly wage, which was £616 in March 2021, it would take more than 416 weeks to buy the average UK property outright – and that’s if you spend none of what you earn. This crisis in housing affordability is particularly acute in cities such as London, which was the most insecure place to live during the pandemic, according to a City Monitor analysis.