Compare home insurance
Find out more
The salary you need to buy a home across the UK
Discover the salary you need to buy a home in different towns and cities across the UK.
[1]House prices were taken from HM Land Registry UK House Price Index: June 2024. Monthly repayments were calculated based on the 90% mortgage with 5.5% interest rate over 25 years.
The calculations provided are for general information only. They are not intended to amount to and do not constitute any form of financial or other advice, recommendation, representation, warranty or guarantee on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining form, any action or decision on the basis of the Content.
House prices in each country
Average house price
| Country | Detached | Semi-detached | Terraced | Flat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wales | £317,463 | £210,229 | £171,573 | £140,908 |
| Scotland | £340,435 | £205,780 | £164,901 | £132,484 |
| Northern Ireland | £280,908 | £178,503 | £129,596 | £139,287 |
| England | £465,645 | £295,486 | £253,596 | £251,481 |
House prices vary across the whole of the UK. We’ve broken down the figures so you can compare the average costs for buying a detached, semi-detached or terraced house - and for buying a flat - in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
The most expensive area in the UK to buy a house is England, where a semi-detached property costs on average more than £295,000.[1] You could get the same type of house in Northern Ireland for over £115,000 less – at just £178,000 on average. Wales and Scotland have similar price tags for a semi-detached property, at £210,000 and £205,000, respectively.
What do you need to earn to afford a house across the UK?
To see how prices vary across the UK, we’ve looked into the salaries you would need to earn to buy a house in different regions in 2024.
Top 10 most expensive areas
| Location | Salary required | Average house price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | £135,252 | £679,782 |
| 2 | Cambridge | £118,307 | £594,613 |
| 3 | Oxford | £115,155 | £578,773 |
| 4 | Brighton and Hove | £105,648 | £530,990 |
| 5 | City of Edinburgh | £90,659 | £455,654 |
| 6 | Chichester | £88,888 | £446,751 |
| 7 | City of Bristol | £83,977 | £422,070 |
| 8 | Worthing | £81,963 | £411,949 |
| 9 | Chelmsford | £81,644 | £410,347 |
| 10 | Reading | £81,188 | £408,052 |
Unsurprisingly, London tops the list as the most expensive place to buy a house. The average salary you’d need to earn to purchase a property is a staggering £135,252. This is because the average home costs a whopping £679,782.
Other areas in the top 10 were mainly in the South and South West. Places like the famous university towns of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as trendy Brighton and Hove. The only area outside of England to make the top 10 list was Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city, which ranked as the fifth most expensive place. Buyers here would need to earn just over £90,000 to afford the average house, which costs more than £455,000.
Top 10 most affordable areas
| Location | Salary required | Average house price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burnley | £25,711 | £129,225 |
| 2 | Blackpool | £28,085 | £141,155 |
| 3 | Middlesbrough | £28,390 | £142,689 |
| 4 | Stoke-on-Trent | £28,500 | £143,243 |
| 5 | Merthyr Tydfil | £28,967 | £145,588 |
| 6 | Sunderland | £30,534 | £153,467 |
| 7 | Blackburn with Darwen | £32,006 | £160,863 |
| 8 | City of Kingston upon Hull | £32,097 | £161,320 |
| 9 | Barnsley | £32,198 | £161,826 |
| 10 | Doncaster | £32,621 | £163,953 |
The more affordable places in the UK were mainly in the Midlands and the North of England. Burnley is the most affordable location, where buyers only need a salary of around £25,000 to get a house. Prices for all types of property in Burnley boast an impressively low price tag of just over £129,000 on average.
Other affordable places like Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent, and Merthyr Tydfil, all made it into the top five. Buyers in these areas need to earn around £28,000 to get on the property ladder.
How do prices compare to five years ago?
Top 10 most expensive areas in 2019
| Location | Salary required | Average house price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | £118,087 | £593,508 |
| 2 | Cambridge | £103,636 | £520,877 |
| 3 | Oxford | £94,289 | £473,897 |
| 4 | Brighton and Hove | £89,181 | £448,225 |
| 5 | Reading | £73,278 | £368,407 |
| 6 | Chichester | £72,688 | £365,332 |
| 7 | Chelmsford | £72,208 | £362,920 |
| 8 | City of Edinburgh | £69,058 | £347,087 |
| 9 | Crawley | £68,549 | £344,531 |
| 10 | City of Bristol | £66,923 | £336,356 |
The top 10 most expensive areas in 2024 are mostly the same as they were back in 2019, and show how the average house price has risen during that time. London and Cambridge are still the two most expensive, followed by Oxford and Brighton and Hove.
Reading and Chelmsford have moved down the list, while Crawley has fallen out of the top 10, which means other areas have become more expensive in the last five years. Edinburgh, Bristol, and Worthing have moved up the list, with all three having moved up three places.
Top 10 most affordable areas in 2019
| Location | Salary required | Average house price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burnley | £19,766 | £99,343 |
| 2 | Merthyr Tydfil | £21,514 | £108,132 |
| 3 | Blackpool | £22,454 | £112,854 |
| 4 | Middlesbrough | £22,431 | £114,36 |
| 5 | Stoke-on-Trent | £23,191 | £116,559 |
| 6 | Barnsley | £24,283 | £122,070 |
| 7 | Mansfield | £24,752 | £124,403 |
| 8 | Doncaster | £24,801 | £124,651 |
| 9 | Sunderland | £25,134 | £126,324 |
| 10 | Blackburn with Darwen | £25,242 | £126,870 |
The top 10 most affordable areas in 2024 are also mostly the same as they were five years ago, with Burnley still in top position.
Doncaster, Merthyr Tydfil, and Barnsley are now more expensive, moving from eighth to tenth, sixth to ninth, and second to fifth place, respectively, since 2019. The same goes for Mansfield, which no longer features in the top ten most affordable areas.
Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Blackburn with Darwen, and Hull have all moved up the affordability list since 2019, with Hull moving from eleventh most affordable to eighth.
Over the past five years the average house price has increased across the country, and so has the salary needed to be able to purchase a house. It’s more important than ever to compare prices and see what you can get for your money.
Compare mortgage rates and see if you could save.
Sources:
[1] House prices were taken from HM Land Registry UK House Price Index: June 2024.
Monthly repayments were calculated based on the 90% mortgage with a 5.5% interest rate over 25 years. Retrieved: September 2024.
Average salaries were calculated assuming that monthly mortgage repayments would take up one-third of your take-home income.
Disclaimer:
The calculations provided are for general information only. They are not intended to amount to and do not constitute any form of financial or other advice, recommendation, representation, warranty or guarantee on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining form, any action or decision on the basis of the Content..
Related guides
[1]House prices were taken from HM Land Registry UK House Price Index: June 2024. Monthly repayments were calculated based on the 90% mortgage with 5.5% interest rate over 25 years.
The calculations provided are for general information only. They are not intended to amount to and do not constitute any form of financial or other advice, recommendation, representation, warranty or guarantee on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining form, any action or decision on the basis of the Content.