House prices in Yorkshire city found to be seven times the average annual salary

A report by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) said Leeds remained the most expensive place to live in the region.

The average house in the city was worth £220,000 in 2022, according to the latest figures available, while the median annual salary stands at £32,381.

Wages rose by five per cent on the year before, while house prices remained static, meaning it should in theory be more affordable for people to buy a house in Leeds now than it was in 2021.

However, the squeeze on household budgets and rising interest rates mean that isn’t necessarily matched by reality.

People now have less money to spend on the costs of moving, such as removal vans and putting their own homes up for sale, while the interest rate hike means monthly mortgage payments are higher.

Speaking at a regional housing meeting on Thursday, WYCA officer Thomas Newton said the affordability figures didn’t take account of other factors, such as interest rates.

Mr Newton said: “What we’ve seen between 2021 and 2022 is that the change is due to both median wages rising and house prices stagnating, and that’s led to a lower ratio of house prices to earnings.

“The trend is on par with what we’ve seen nationally, but the overall level means West Yorkshire is a significantly more affordable place to live than the rest of the country (as a whole).”

Across the whole of the UK, the average house is now priced at more than eight times the average salary.

In West Yorkshire, the biggest change across the region’s five authority areas came in Kirklees, where the affordability ratio fell from 6.5 to 5.6 in the space of a year.

That’s because wages there in rose by 12 per cent over the course of the year, while house prices fell by three per cent.