New data has laid bare the profound geographic split in the UK's housing market, revealing where aspiring homeowners can find the best value and where property ownership remains a distant dream.
The Stark North-South Divide
According to Zoopla's November 2025 report, the average home now costs 4.4 times the combined annual earnings of a typical two-earner household. While this marks a slight improvement from 4.5 times in 2024, the national average masks extreme regional variations.
Scotland and the North East of England emerge as bastions of relative affordability, standing in sharp contrast to the overheated market of the South East. The epicentre of unaffordability is Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, where property prices soar beyond £1 million. This staggering figure represents more than 15 times the average local household income, cementing its status as the UK's least affordable town.
Britain's Most Affordable Towns
At the opposite end of the spectrum sits Shildon in County Durham, crowned the most affordable town across Great Britain. Here, the median property price stands at just £73,900 – a figure that equates to just over one year's combined salary for an average two-earner household.
This remarkable affordability underscores the exceptional accessibility for local buyers in northern regions. Other towns reinforcing this pattern include Workington in Cumbria, where the home price to income ratio is 1.8, and Cumnock in Scotland, where average home values hover around £83,700.
Southern England's Affordability Crisis
Even the most affordable towns in the South of England present significant barriers to ownership. In Dover and Cinderford, prospective buyers must still earn more than three and a half times their combined yearly salary to purchase an average home.
This ratio highlights the acute challenge facing single-earner households in particular. Despite some moderate improvements in affordability, housing in southern regions remains largely out of reach for many, creating intense pressure on the rental market.
Richard Donnell, Executive Director at Zoopla, observed the shifting behaviour driven by these constraints. 'A growing number of buyers are having to look further afield to find better value for money,' he remarked.
The pronounced affordability gap is prompting a fundamental reassessment of where Britons can achieve homeownership. For households seeking a foothold on the property ladder without bearing the extreme financial strain seen in southern hotspots, the relative affordability of Scotland and the North of England may represent the most viable path forward.
