As of November 2018 the average house price in the UK is £230,630, and the index stands at 120.96. Property prices have fallen by 0.1% compared to the previous month, and risen by 2.8% compared to the previous year.
Green belt amounts to roughly 13% of the land area of England, and covers one and a half times as much land as our towns and cities put together.
The median price paid for residential property in England and Wales increased by 259% between 1997 and 2016; median individual annual earnings increased by 68% in the same time period.
The size of the green belt has more than doubled since 1979 - its total size growing from 721,500 hectares to 1,634,700 hectares.
Nationally the average deposit is £33,127, an increase of 71% from £19,364 in 2008. In London, the average first-time buyer deposit is £114,952 (27% of the purchase price) and a three-fold increase from £38,335 in
2008.
Private renters spend a significantly greater proportion of their income on their housing costs than social renters or those buying with a mortgage. On average, those buying their home with a mortgage spent 18% of their household income on mortgage payments whereas rent payments were 28% of household income for social renters and 35% of household income for private renters.
Two thirds (65%) of first time buyers were in the upper income quintiles.
In 2015-16, three quarters (74 %) of first time buyers were couple households, a marked change since 2005-06 (66%). This may be due to an increasing need for two incomes to be able to buy.
Of the estimated 22.8 million households in England, 14.3 million or 63% were owner occupiers. The proportion of households in owner occupation increased steadily from the 1980s to 2003 when it reached its peak of 71%.
The proportion of first-time buyers has grown from 44% since the launch of Help to Buy in 2013.
