East Riding homes less affordable than ever, according to new figures

Each year, the Office for National Statistics calculates housing affordability by comparing the median house price in a local authority area to the median full-time annual income of people who live there.

The higher the ratio is, the less affordable homes are to buy.

The median – the middle number in a series – is used instead of the mean average to ensure the figures are not skewed by extreme highs or lows.

In the East Riding, homes became less affordable as wages decreased by 4% in 2021, while house prices rose by 9%.

The analysis shows that the average house price in the East Riding is now £207,500, while the average annual salary sits at £30,361 – meaning house hunters need 6.8 times their wage to buy to a home.

This is the highest ratio recorded since the ONS began analysing the issue in 2002.

In 2020, the figure stood at 6.0.

Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, says the blame for worsening affordability lies with a “huge decline” in affordable social homes, paired with less housebuilding.

“House prices have been pushed higher by policies that have given some people greater purchasing power, like Help to Buy or the recent stamp duty cut. These policies coupled with a lack of supply means homeownership is now out of reach for most people on modest incomes.”

Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at estate agency Knight Frank, said that while house prices have risen significantly over the pandemic he expects growth to slow over the next year.

A recent report from the House of Commons suggests that Covid-19 may be responsible for a slowdown in the building of new affordable homes over 2020 and 2021.

A spokesperson for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said that building affordable homes remains “central” to the Government’s levelling up agenda.