Cost of buying average home in England now unaffordable, warns ONS

Only richest 10% can afford to buy as figures show average household needs 8.6 times disposable income to meet asking price

Only the richest 10% of households can afford to buy an average-priced home in England, according to official figures laying bare the scale of Britain’s broken housing market.

Highlighting the result of decades of house price growth that has outstripped household incomes, the Office for National Statistics said the cost of buying a home was “unaffordable” in every part of the UK except Northern Ireland.