Pay rises – but house prices rise higher

The team at Coulters Property have looked into the housing landscape for first-time buyers to discover how much you would need to be able to afford a 10% deposit around the country, how much this is as a percentage of average annual income, and how this has changed over the last 20 years.

https://www.coultersproperty.co.uk/first-time-buyer-changes

Scotland First Time Buyer Landscape (1999-2020)

1999202010 YEAR DIFFERENCE (£)10 YEAR DIFFERENCE (%)
House Price£49,924£152,469£102,545.00205.40%
Deposit£4,992£15,247£10,255205.43%
Earnings£16,914£30,000*13,08677.37%
Deposit % Earnings29.50%50.70%21.20%

*2019 earnings data used


You can clearly see that in Scotland, house prices have risen by 205.40% but earnings have only risen by 77.37%. The deposit as % of earnings has increased by 21.20%.

How Has Housing Affordability Changed in the UK?

  • In 1999, the average house price in the UK was just £77,961. Fast forward twenty years and that figure has almost trebled, to £230,735.
  • At the same time, the average income has also increased, but only from £17,803 a year to £30,353, an increase of 70%.
  • In 1999, a 10% deposit would have worked out at about 43.8% of your annual salary, these days, that figure has risen by about three quarters to 76%.

You can see the full research here.