PROSPECTIVE buyers in Ceredigion have to spend almost eight times their annual salary on average to buy a home, housing affordability figures reveal.

Each year the Office for National Statistics calculates how affordable housing is in England and Wales, by dividing the median house price in local authorities by the median full time annual income.

The higher the ratio is, the less affordable homes are to buy. The ONS uses the median instead of the mean as the average, which is the exact middle number in a series, so not distorted by the extreme highs and lows.

In Ceredigion last year the affordability ratio was 7.58.

The average house price was £175,225, compared with the average annual salary of £23,118.

And Ceredigion is getting less affordable. In 2016 the ratio was 7.47.

This has been driven by house prices rising.

The average house price in Ceredigion increased by £2,975 in 2017. Median yearly earnings actually rose by £44, however this was not enough to improve housing affordability.

This vast gulf between earnings and house prices highlights the current crisis, which has put buying a home out of reach of many.

The drastic increase in house prices since 2002, which was when the ONS first began comparing this data, reinforces this.

The average home in Ceredigion then cost £79,500. The 2017 figure is 120 per cent higher.

In that time the average annual salary has only increased by £6,460, a 39 per cent rise.

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