St Albans named among UK's most expensive cities

St Albans is one of the least affordable cities in the UK, with an average house price of more than 10 times residents' mean annual earnings. 

According to research by the Halifax, the average house price in St Albans in the 12 months to June 2021 was £604,423, while mean annual earnings stood at £59,391. 

This placed the Cathedral city in joint ninth place in the 'least affordable' list, alongside Chelmsford, Essex, with both sharing a price to earnings (PE) ratio of 10.2, one place behind Greater London's 11.

Winchester knocked last year's table-topper, Oxford, into second place, with homes costing 14 times annual earnings,  while Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was named the most affordable UK city with a PE ratio of just 4.7. 

UK-wide, the average city dweller now needs 8.1 times their earnings to buy a home.

Russell Galley, Halifax managing director, said: "We can see from our research that affordability is significantly better in the North and there are now just two cities – Plymouth and Portsmouth – with better than average affordability in the South.

“Rising house prices have generally continued to outstrip wage growth, which reduces overall affordability, however the picture is mixed for buyers.

"For city home-movers who want to stay in their area, the level of equity in their current property is likely to be an important factor in how affordable the local area is for them, whereas raising a deposit remains an issue for many first-time buyers."