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Londoners have grown used to seeing their city top study after study declaring how unaffordable its housing is. But it appears another UK city has pipped us to post, taking the top spot in Lloyd's Bank's annual housing affordability analysis, which compares the cost of buying a home in an area with its average regional pay. In its report, the picturesque university city of Oxford was named the least affordable city in the UK. The 'city of dreaming spires' has an average house price of £385,37, which is 10.7 times the average annual gross earnings in the city, of £36,033.
But don't get too cocky – the same study saw Greater London named the second least affordable UK city, with the average house price 10.5 times higher than average earnings. London also had the highest house price growth over the last five years, with average prices up by 57 percent. In fact, it's a pretty bleak picture across the UK, with home affordability in Britain at its worst level since 2008, thanks to rapidly rising house prices and slow wage growth. Over the past five years, the average house price has risen by 32 percent to its highest ever level of £224,926 in 2017. By comparison, average annual city wages have risen only seven percent in the same period to £32,796. Fingers crossed for a big win on the EuroMillions, then.
In other news, London is the seventh worst city in the world for traffic.