The salary you need to buy a house in every London borough

For the large majority of us, buying a house in London feels like a distant dream. Our capital is one of the most expensive cities in the world, after all. But just how much should you be earning if you wanted to make that dream a reality?

To help you figure out whether you can really settle down in the city, Zoopla has revealed the average household income needed for buying a house in each of London’s borough right now. Before we go on, keep in mind that the numbers assume that the buyer is paying a deposit of 20 percent of the property value and taking out a mortgage loan amounting to 4.5 times their household earnings. 

Predictably, notoriously posh borough Kensington and Chelsea is the most expensive of them all. In July, the average house there cost an eye-watering £1.12m, which would require a combined household income of £199,300. Renting here isn’t much better – with an average monthly cost of £3,601, it’s the most expensive place to rent in the whole of the UK. 

If your budget is a little lower, you could instead look for a house in Westminster, the second priciest borough in the capital. According to Zoopla, the average house there is £936,900, which would need a household income of around £166,600. Camden was the next most expensive with a required salary of £135,900, followed by Richmond, for which a household would need to be earning around £135,900 a year to buy a home. 

The most affordable part of London is Barking and Dagenham where the average house price is £335,500. If you were to put down a 20 percent deposit, your household would need combined earnings of £59,600. Interestingly, the earnings needed are down slightly compared to the start of the year. Here’s a full breakdown of earnings needed to buy a house in each part of London. 

The salary needed to buy a house in every London borough in 2025

• Kensington and Chelsea: £199,300 (average house price in July 2025: £1,120,900)
• Westminster: £166,600 (£936,900)
• Camden: £135,900 (£764,600)
• Richmond upon Thames: £135,200 (£760,700)
• City of London: £130,800 (£735,700)
• Hammersmith and Fulham: £128,700 (£723,900)
• Islington: £117,100 (£658,700)
• Wandsworth: £116,900 (£657,700)
• Hackney: £105,900 (£595,700)
• Haringey: £101,800 (£572,600)
  
• Kingston upon Thames: £101,700 (£572,000)
• Barnet: £101,000 (£567,900)
• Merton: £100,300 (£564,400)
• Lambeth: £98,900 (£556,500)
• Bromley: £92,000 (£517,300)
• Southwark: £91,800 (£516,300)
• Brent: £91,700 (£516,000)
• Ealing: £91,600 (£515,500)
• Harrow: £90,800 (£510,600)
• Waltham Forest: £90,100 (£507,000)
• Redbridge: £84,500 (£475,300)
• Tower Hamlets: £84,200 (£473,600)
• Hounslow: £82,400 (£463,400)
• Hillingdon: £80,700 (£454,000)
• Lewisham: £80,100 (£450,600)
• Sutton: £79,200 (£445,200)
• Enfield: £78,300 (£440,300)
• Greenwich: £75,300 (£423,800)
• Havering: £75,200 (£422,700)
• Newham: £71,600 (£403,000)
• Bexley: £71,200 (£400,800)
• Croydon: £69,900 (£393,300)
• Barking and Dagenham: £59,600 (£335,500)
  

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