Only the top 10% of households in England by income could afford an average-priced home with fewer than five years of household income last year, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.
In Wales, the top 30% of households by income would have been able to afford an average-priced home with five years of household income in the financial year ending in 2023.
In Scotland the figure was 40%, according to the ONS.
The ONS uses a threshold of five years of income as a broad indicator of affordability.
It said that in Northern Ireland, an average-priced home was affordable with an average household income, with a typical house price-to-disposable household income ratio there of 5.0.
We need to be truly radical in reforming the broken planning system and explore innovative solutions
In England, the average house price-to-income ratio was 8.6, in Wales it was 5.8 and in Scotland it was 5.6 in the financial year ending in 2023.
The average house price was £298,000 in England, £205,000 in Wales, £185,000 in Scotland and £160,000 in Northern Ireland.
An average-priced home in England was around 18.2 times the income of the lowest-income 10% of households last year, compared with 12.3 in Scotland, 11.2 in Wales and 9.3 in Northern Ireland.
Labour MP Chris Curtis, co-chairman of the Labour Growth Group and a member of the Housing Select Committee said: “These figures demonstrate the staggering scale of our country’s housing crisis and underline the urgency of the task facing this Government to end it.”
He added: “We need grow our economy so that rising pay packets mean it’s not just the privileged few who can afford to get on the housing ladder.
“Alongside this we need to be truly radical in reforming the broken planning system and explore innovative solutions to crowd private investment into building more affordable and social housing.”
