England · Research
What the median English home costs to mortgage now, and how much of a salary that takes
The median registered sale in the typical English town was £315,000 in 2025. Borrow 90% of that over 25 years at the Bank of England's average 2-year fixed rate for August 2026 (5.16%) and the repayment is £1,684 a month. At November 2021's rate the same home would cost £1,204 a month, and at the 2023 average it cost £1,785. The payment on its own is 51% of a full-time worker's median gross pay.
Soloren LeeProperty market research
Bank Rate held, quoted fixes up
On 16 September the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee held Bank Rate at 3.75% by six votes to three. The three wanted 4%. CPI inflation was 3.1% in August. Bank Rate was 3.75% in January too, but the Bank's average quoted rate for a 2-year fix at 75% LTV rose from 3.93% in January to 4.92% in August, and the quoted rate is the one a buyer gets offered.
So the figures here use quoted mortgage rates. For the median home in each English town they work out the monthly payment at August's rates, the payment the same home would have carried at the rates of November 2021 and 2023, and the share of one full-time salary it takes in each region.
For scale, take a £500,000 loan over 25 years. At the November 2021 average of 1.53% for a 2-year fix at 75% LTV it costs £2,007 a month. At August's 4.92% it costs £2,900. The median English home is far cheaper than that, and the sections below work from each town's median sale.
Three dates, one home
Each payment here is a 25-year capital-and-interest mortgage on a town's median registered sale, at 75% or 90% loan to value, using the Bank of England's average quoted 2-year fixed rate for that LTV. The 2023 rate is the mean of that year's twelve monthly figures, to match a median taken over the whole year.
The register behind this site starts in January 2023, so there is no 2021 price to use. The November 2021 figure puts today's median home on November 2021's rate. It measures what the rate change alone did.
| Quoted 2-year fixed rate | Nov 2021 | 2023 average | Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75% LTV (IUMBV34) | 1.53% | 5.31% | 4.92% |
| 90% LTV (IUMB482) | 2.02% | 5.76% | 5.16% |
At Nov 2021 rate
£1,204
90% LTV. At 75%: £948. 37% of median pay
2023
£1,785
90% LTV. At 75%: £1,424. 61% of median pay
Now
£1,684
90% LTV. At 75%: £1,370. 51% of median pay
For the typical town, the 90% payment is £479 a month more than at 2021's rate, 40% higher. Against 2023 the change is −£101. The median town price was £315,000 in both 2023 and 2025, while the 90% rate fell from 5.76% to 5.16%.
Region by region, against local pay
Pay is the ONS median gross annual pay for full-time employees who live in each region (ASHE, 2025 provisional; 2023 for the 2023 column). The region's price is the median of its town medians. The share is the monthly payment against one month of that gross pay.
| Region | Median 2025 | Pay 2025 | 90% now | Change vs 2021 rate | Change vs 2023 | Share of pay, 75% | Share of pay, 90% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £162,500 | £34,833 | £869 | +£247 | −£21 | 24.3% | 29.9% |
| North West | £220,000 | £37,445 | £1,176 | +£335 | +£43 | 30.7% | 37.7% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £219,950 | £35,990 | £1,176 | +£335 | −£12 | 31.9% | 39.2% |
| East Midlands | £251,000 | £36,194 | £1,342 | +£382 | −£61 | 36.2% | 44.5% |
| West Midlands | £272,800 | £37,048 | £1,458 | +£415 | +£5 | 38.4% | 47.2% |
| East of England | £357,500 | £40,863 | £1,911 | +£544 | −£129 | 45.7% | 56.1% |
| London | £500,000 | £46,414 | £2,673 | +£761 | −£73 | 56.2% | 69.1% |
| South East | £425,000 | £41,618 | £2,272 | +£647 | −£108 | 53.3% | 65.5% |
| South West | £302,500 | £37,543 | £1,617 | +£460 | −£140 | 42.1% | 51.7% |
At 90% LTV the mortgage takes more than 30% of median full-time pay in every region except the North East. Six cross 40%: East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East and South West. London is highest, at 69.1%.
With a 25% deposit the payment is smaller and so is the list: eight of the nine regions cross 30%, and four cross 40%.
The shares were higher in 2023 in every region, because rates were higher and pay was lower. For England as a whole the 90% share was 60.9% in 2023 and is 51.5% now. At November 2021's rate it would be 36.8%.
How much is rate and how much is price
To separate the two, keep each region's median at its 2023 level and change only the rate. That gives the rate effect. Whatever is left of the change is price. At 90% LTV:
| Region | 2023 payment | Rate effect | Price effect | Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North East | £890 | −£51 | +£29 | £869 |
| North West | £1,133 | −£64 | +£107 | £1,176 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £1,187 | −£67 | +£56 | £1,176 |
| East Midlands | £1,403 | −£80 | +£19 | £1,342 |
| West Midlands | £1,453 | −£83 | +£87 | £1,458 |
| East of England | £2,040 | −£116 | −£13 | £1,911 |
| London | £2,746 | −£156 | +£83 | £2,673 |
| South East | £2,380 | −£135 | +£27 | £2,272 |
| South West | £1,757 | −£100 | −£40 | £1,617 |
The rate effect is negative everywhere, since the August 2026 rate is below the 2023 average. Price pushed the other way in 7 regions (North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, London and South East), and in North West and West Midlands it was enough to leave the payment higher than in 2023.
Town by town, 223 of 891 towns have a higher 90% payment now than in 2023. Because the rate fell, every one of those increases comes from a rising median. Against 2021 the split is simpler: the price is held at today's level, so all of the difference is rate.
The towns at each end
Each town is set against the pay of its region, not its own local authority. The lists are limited to the 322 towns with at least 2,000 registered sales since 2023, which keeps small places with a few expensive sales off the ends. Payment at 90% LTV and the August 2026 rate.
Across all 891 towns, 836 need more than 30% of regional median pay at 90% LTV, and 698 need more than 40%.
At the top of the list, the payment on a median home in Leatherhead is 103% of median full-time pay in the South East, more than one salary can cover.
Highest share of regional pay
| Town | Median 2025 | 90% now | Share of pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leatherhead | £667,500 | £3,568 | 103% |
| Sevenoaks | £615,000 | £3,288 | 95% |
| Twickenham | £660,000 | £3,528 | 91% |
| St Albans | £576,500 | £3,082 | 90% |
| Kingston upon Thames | £650,000 | £3,475 | 90% |
| Barnet | £625,000 | £3,341 | 86% |
| Godalming | £551,250 | £2,947 | 85% |
| Epsom | £550,000 | £2,940 | 85% |
Lowest share of regional pay
| Town | Median 2025 | 90% now | Share of pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | £120,000 | £641 | 21% |
| Blackpool | £137,000 | £732 | 23% |
| Accrington | £138,000 | £738 | 24% |
| Bishop Auckland | £130,500 | £698 | 24% |
| Burnley | £145,000 | £775 | 25% |
| Consett | £145,000 | £775 | 27% |
| Barrow-in-Furness | £157,250 | £841 | 27% |
| Hartlepool | £150,000 | £802 | 28% |
Named towns at three dates
| Town | Median 2023 | Median 2025 | 90% at Nov 2021 rate | 90% in 2023 | 90% now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | £585,000 | £575,000 | £2,198 | £3,315 | £3,074 |
| Manchester | £235,000 | £250,000 | £956 | £1,332 | £1,336 |
| Birmingham | £222,124 | £235,000 | £899 | £1,259 | £1,256 |
| Leeds | £230,000 | £245,000 | £937 | £1,304 | £1,310 |
| Bristol | £345,000 | £350,000 | £1,338 | £1,955 | £1,871 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £200,000 | £210,000 | £803 | £1,133 | £1,123 |
| Cambridge | £460,000 | £455,000 | £1,740 | £2,607 | £2,432 |
| Blackpool | £131,000 | £137,000 | £524 | £742 | £732 |
Coming off a fix taken in 2021
Five-year fixes taken in late 2021 run out in late 2026. Take £100,000 borrowed in November 2021 on a 5-year fix at 75% LTV, at the Bank's average of 1.52%. The payment was £401 a month. After five years the balance is £82,917. Fixed again for five years at August 2026's average (4.78%) over the remaining 20 years, the payment is £537, 34% more. Multiply by the size of the loan in hundreds of thousands for your own figure. The example assumes the loan is still at or below 75% of the home's value.
What a quarter point does
Three of the nine MPC members voted for a rise in September. This article does not forecast rates. The arithmetic on the typical town's £315,000 home is fixed, though: every 0.25 point on the quoted rate adds about £42 a month at 90% LTV and £34 at 75%. A full point adds £171 and £141. This year showed that Bank Rate and quoted mortgage rates do not move one for one, so treat these as the effect of a change in the rate a buyer is offered.
What these numbers leave out
The Bank's quoted rates are averages across lenders for one product at one LTV. No buyer is quoted the average. Fees, credit history and the size of the loan move the offer, and a 2-year fix is only one of the products on sale.
ASHE measures gross pay for one full-time employee, before tax and National Insurance, for employees in the same job for at least a year. It is not household income. Two full-time earners on the median would roughly halve the share; working from take-home pay would raise it. Part-time workers and the self-employed are outside it.
A town median mixes flats, terraces and detached houses in whatever proportion sold that year, so a town where more flats sold in 2025 can show a lower median without any home getting cheaper. The payment leaves out the deposit, stamp duty, fees and insurance. The 25-year term is a choice made for this article; a longer term lowers the monthly payment and raises the total interest.
This is market analysis from published rates, earnings and registered prices. It is not mortgage advice.
Sources and method
- Bank of England, IUMBV34: 2 year (75% LTV) fixed rate mortgage, quoted rate (accessed 2026-09-22)
- Bank of England, IUMB482: 2 year (90% LTV) fixed rate mortgage, quoted rate (accessed 2026-09-22)
- Bank of England, IUMBV42: 5 year (75% LTV) fixed rate mortgage, quoted rate (accessed 2026-09-22)
- Bank of England, Monetary Policy Summary, September 2026 (accessed 2026-09-22)
- Bank of England, Monetary Policy Summary, February 2026 (accessed 2026-09-22)
- ONS ASHE via Nomis (NM_30_1): median gross annual pay, full-time workers, by region of residence, 2023 and 2025 provisional (accessed 2026-09-22)
- ONS, Earnings and hours worked, place of residence by local authority: ASHE Table 8 (accessed 2026-09-22)
Payment = loan × r ÷ (1 − (1 + r)^−300), with r the annual rate ÷ 12. Loan = median × LTV. Rates are the Bank of England's monthly quoted household rates, latest month 2026-08.
Related: are house prices falling, town by town · where a first-time buyer still pays no stamp duty
Prices from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, standard sales only, through 2026-09-30. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right. Earnings from ONS ASHE. Not mortgage advice.