ONS publishes Housing Purchase Affordability, UK: 2024 bulletin

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its Housing Purchase Affordability, UK: 2024 bulletin on 18 September 2025, covering ratios of house prices to disposable household incomes for the financial year ending (FYE) 31 March 2024¹.

The median house price to disposable household income affordability ratio was 7.9 in England, 5.4 in Wales, 5.3 in Scotland and 4.6 in Northern Ireland in FYE 2024¹. The median home sold for £290,000 in England, £200,000 in Wales, £185,000 in Scotland and £168,000 in Northern Ireland, with average disposable household incomes ranging from £35,000 to £37,000¹. By country, the ONS gives £290,000 for an average-priced home and £37,000 for average income in England; £200,000 and £37,000 in Wales; £185,000 and £35,000 in Scotland; and £168,000 and £36,000 in Northern Ireland¹.

Nation	Median house price	Median disposable household income	Ratio
England	£290,000	£37,000	7.9
Wales	£200,000	£37,000	5.4
Scotland	£185,000	£35,000	5.3
Northern Ireland	£168,000	£36,000	4.6

Source: ONS, Housing Purchase Affordability, UK: 2024¹

Affordability improved in all four countries in FYE 2024, as ratios decreased compared with the previous year, but the ONS says this does not change the long-term trend of homes generally being unaffordable in each country since FYE 2006¹. Northern Ireland's incomes have increased more quickly than house prices in each of the last five years, making it the only UK country where homes sold for less than five times average household income in FYE 2024¹.

"In all four countries, affordability improved in FYE 2024 as ratios decreased compared with the previous year, but this does not change the long-term trend of homes generally being unaffordable in each country since FYE 2006."

Office for National Statistics, Housing Purchase Affordability, UK: 2024¹

The picture differs by income. In England, only the highest-income decile could afford an average-priced home with fewer than five years of income; in Wales and Scotland the top-income 40% could afford an average home; and in Northern Ireland an average home was affordable with an average or higher income¹. An average-priced home in England was 13 times a lower-income household's income (the lowest-income 20%), compared with 9.2 times in Wales, 7.8 in Scotland and 7.5 in Northern Ireland¹. Within England, an average-priced home in the North East cost the equivalent of 8.5 years of income for a low-income household (20th percentile), compared with 25 years in London¹. The ONS also published a new modelled local authority dataset, showing that 29 of 317 local authority areas in England and Wales (9.1%) were affordable to those who worked there in FYE 2024, the highest since FYE 2004 (16.8%) but below FYE 1999 (69.0%)¹.

Why it matters for households

The ratios describe how many years of typical household income an average home costs in each nation, so they are a broad measure of what buyers face rather than a price forecast. The ONS uses five years of income as a broad indicator of affordability¹. On that basis, an average home was unaffordable on average income in England, Wales and Scotland in FYE 2024, and affordable in Northern Ireland¹. The ONS notes that incomes are based on survey sample data, so it cannot say whether differences between areas or over time are statistically significant or the result of natural sample variation¹. It also states that this release differs from its annual Housing affordability in England and Wales bulletin, which remains the official source for local housing policy and needs assessment¹. For buyers weighing what a purchase involves beyond the price, the site's guide to the costs of buying a house sets out the other outlays, within the wider home-buying section.