A new survey has confirmed the worst fears of many York homebuyers – most properties are out of their price range.
An analysis of the city’s housing market found that a single York resident can afford just 5.6% of the properties now up for sale in the city.
And a couple could afford just 59.5% of the properties.
That makes York the least affordable location in Yorkshire for people to buy homes. In comparison:
- a Harrogate singleton could afford 13.9% of homes, and a couple could afford 60.6%
- in Leeds it’s 30.4% and 79.2%
- in Scarborough it’s 42.1% and 79.9%
- and in North Yorkshire as a whole, it’s 24.5% and 66.5%.
House prices outstrip wages
Selby is the most affordable location in Yorkshire for couples. Town couples can afford 95.1% of homes in this area, and a single buyer can afford 50.6%.
The analysis, by the Online Mortgage Advisor, also found that property prices have outgrown local wages in York.
They measured the gap between the average house price and annual salary in 2011 and 2020.
In 2011, an average full-time employee in York could typically expect to spend around 6.88 times their annual salary on buying a home.
This ratio has risen to 8.43 in 2020, creating an increase in ratio of 1.55 – more than any other location in Yorkshire.
Researchers analysed properties for sale from Zoopla’s listings in January 2021 to find out what percentage the average person was able to afford in their local authority.
To do this they used the following formula:
Mortgage (4.5x salary) + 15% deposit = Max price of property affordable.