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Bristol Post

National

Tanya Waterworth

The salary you will need to earn to buy a home in different areas of Bristol

Bristol Kim Kinnaird Zoopla

The average house price in Bristol is over ten times higher than the average salary, with house prices having increased by 93 per cent over the last ten years in Bristol. This is compared to a 67 per cent increase for England and Wales.

The average salary in B ristol is currently £33,737 with the average house price in Bristol being £388,893, according to Zoopla. This means the average salary would allow you to buy a property for £151,816 calculated at a maximum mortgage rate of 4.5 times your salary - not much at that price in Bristol and this excludes other costs such as deposit, stamp duty or any other fees.

Dominic Wyatt from Bristol Property Centre said entering the property market for prospective single buyers was “incredibly difficult”, as well as for lower income earners and would generally require a large deposit. He said most home buyers rely on dual income and the disparity gap between salaries and property prices has continued to rise.

He highlighted that according to the Land Registry, in 1990 the average house price at national level was £57,000 and average salary £20,000. By 2020 the gap had grown with an average property price of £230,000 set against an average salary of £30,000.

Wyatt said that despite this increasing gap, the property market remained resilient going into 2023. “There was a minor drop in November and December, but the start of the year has seen good sales. I think prospective buyers have realised rates are not going to pull back to what they were and there’s a lot of interest in the market,” he said, adding the rental market remained strong.

Halifax Mortgages director, Kim Kinnaird said in December that the average home in the UK was £281,272, putting Bristol at over £100,000 ahead of the national average. Kinnaird said the cost of an average home remained high across the UK.

“As we enter 2023, the housing market will continue to be impacted by the wider economic environment and, as buyers and sellers remain cautious, we expect there will be a reduction in both supply and demand overall, with house prices forecast to fall around 8% over the course of the year. It’s important to recognise that a drop of 8% would mean the cost of the average property returning to April 2021 prices, which still remains significantly above pre-pandemic levels,” said Kinnaird.

Here are the average house prices for different parts of Bristol, according to Zoopla and the annual income you will need to earn in order to obtain a mortgage :

Bedminster

Average house price: £388,142

Household income you’ll need to buy: £86,253

St Pauls

Average house price: £278,700

Household income you’ll need to buy: £61,933

Brislington Hill

Average house price: £353,262

Household income you’ll need to buy: £78,502

Knowle

Average house price: £358,906

Household income you’ll need to buy: £79,756