Housing

After adjusting for inflation, the average UK home costs more than five times what it did in 1970: £267,000 in 2025, compared with around £51,000 in today's money.

Most of that rise happened in two booms, in the late 1980s and from the late 1990s to 2007. Real prices fell after the financial crisis, rose again to a peak in 2022, and have fallen by about 9% since, as prices have grown more slowly than inflation.

Prices vary enormously across the country. The average home in London cost £554,000 in August 2026, more than double the average in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Recent price growth has been fastest outside London.

In the chart, you can add and remove other regions or nations to compare.

The affordability of housing isn't only determined by prices. If income growth keeps up with prices, a more expensive home might be just as affordable.

One measure of affordability compares house prices with earnings. This is what the chart shows.

In 1997, a typical home in England cost 3.5 times a typical full-time salary. By 2025, it cost 7.6 times as much, having peaked at 9.1 in 2021.

In London, the ratio rose from 4 to over 10. Even in the most affordable region, the North East, homes now cost five times typical earnings.

Use “Add local authority” above the chart to add any local authority in England or Wales.

How do average house prices and average earnings compare at the level of local authorities?

You can see this for England and Wales in the map. Click on any authority to see this change over time.

In 83 of the 317 local authorities in England and Wales, a typical home costs at least ten times typical local earnings.

Kensington and Chelsea is the least affordable, at 25 times earnings. The most affordable areas, such as Hyndburn and Kingston upon Hull, have ratios of around 4 — close to the national level of the late 1990s.

Do first-time buyers and existing owners pay differently for houses?

First-time buyers typically buy cheaper homes than people moving from one home they own to another. In August 2026, the average first-time buyer paid £230,000, compared with £336,000 for existing owners.

A key factor that matters for monthly mortgage payments — and the affordability of homes — is mortgage rates.

In the chart, you can see average interest rates since the mid-1990s.

After the 2008 financial crisis, mortgage rates fell to historic lows. In September 2021, the average two-year fixed mortgage with a 25% deposit had an interest rate of just 1.2%.

As the Bank of England raised interest rates to bring down inflation, mortgage rates rose sharply, peaking at 6.2% in July 2023. In September 2026, the two-year fixed rate was 5.1%. For many households coming off cheap fixed deals, this has meant much higher monthly payments.

The average private renter in the UK paid £1,406 a month in September 2026, up from £941 in January 2016 — a rise of almost 50%. In London, the average is £2,338.

Rent growth accelerated after the pandemic, peaking at 9.1% a year in March 2024, the fastest in at least a decade. It has since slowed to 3.8%.

These figures cover all tenancies, including existing ones, so they rise more slowly than the asking rents for new lets that are often reported.

How do average rents vary across the country? In the map, you can see average monthly rents by local authority in England and Wales.

Rents are highest in London: the 17 most expensive local authorities are all London boroughs, led by Kensington and Chelsea at £3,739 a month. Outside London, Oxford, St Albans, Bath and Bristol are the most expensive.

Clicking on any local authority will show its change over time.

England's housebuilding peaked in 1968, when 352,540 homes were completed. Councils built 143,680 of them.

Council housebuilding collapsed from the late 1970s onwards. In 2025, councils completed just 1,970 homes, and the total was 142,050 — 60% below the 1968 peak.

In 2025, around 140,000 new homes were built — far short of the government's target.

Using the chart tabs, you can also see the changes in each of builders as a line chart.

The government's measure of the new supply of homes includes conversions and changes of use, such as offices turned into flats, minus demolitions.

This is what this chart shows: it does not only capture new homes that have been built.

On this measure, England added 208,600 homes in 2024/25.

Over this period, the government has never reached the 300,000 a year that recent governments have aimed for.

A century ago, three-quarters of households in England rented privately. Over the 20th century, home ownership and council housing both grew, and private renting shrank to around 1 in 10 households by 2000.

Home ownership peaked at 71% in 2003. Since then private renting has nearly doubled, to 19% of households, while ownership has fallen to 65%. Social renting has declined steadily since the 1980s, when council tenants gained the Right to Buy their homes.

The fall in home ownership has been concentrated among younger adults. In 2003/04, 59% of households headed by someone aged 25 to 34 owned their home. By 2013/14, this had fallen to 36%, and more were renting privately than owned.

Ownership in this age group has partly recovered, to 48% in 2024/25.

When households become homeless, councils in England have a duty to house many of them, often in temporary accommodation such as hostels, B&Bs or short-term lets.

The number of households in temporary accommodation fell to around 48,000 in 2010, but has nearly tripled since then, to a record 135,580 in March 2026.

Rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness. On a single night in autumn 2025, an estimated 4,793 people were sleeping rough in England — the highest since this count began in 2010, and more than two and a half times the number in 2010.

Numbers fell sharply in 2020, when the government's "Everyone In" scheme housed rough sleepers during the pandemic, but have risen since.

1.34 million households in England were on council waiting lists for social housing in 2025.

Waiting lists peaked at 1.85 million in 2012. The fall after that mostly reflects councils tightening who can join their lists, rather than more people being housed.