Yahoo Finance First-time buyers need to earn £54,400 to get on the property ladder
The average first-time buyer needs a household income of £54,400 to get on the property ladder in British cities, new figures suggest.
First-time buyers need to earn more now than three years ago in most UK cities, with the exception of the most expensive areas—where buying is now marginally more affordable.
The average house price in 20 UK cities is now £256,200, up 1.8% on a year ago, according to a monthly review of the UK property market by Hometrack.
Fast-rising property prices in Manchester and Leicester mean first-time buyers now need to earn around 20% more than three years ago.
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The highest increases in house prices have been in some of the most affordable cities, with prices up 5% in Liverpool and 4.6% in Belfast.
Buyers can secure their first home of their own on a total household income of £26,000 in Liverpool and Glasgow, whereas Londoners need £84,000 a year.
But the expensive cities where buyers need the highest income have seen the property market become slightly more affordable in recent years.
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London, Oxford and Cambridge have seen the average income to buy fall 5% since 2016.
The latest Hometrack report says house prices in UK cities have grown around 7% a year for the past 23 years, far outstripping growth incomes.
Separate figures released today by Lloyds Bank also show the number of homes worth £1m or more has reached a record high.
More than 14,600 homes worth at least £1m were sold in 2018, up 1% on the previous year despite a slowdown in the property market particularly in London and the south-east.
