Average Brighton home costs 16 times the average salary, figures show

Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust, was responding to new figures which show the average price of a property in the city is £461,021, which would need a salary of £83,025 to pay the mortgage.

The study, carried out by GoCompare, uses house price figures taken from the Land Registry UK House Price Index 2020 to compare the salaries needed to buy a home in towns and cities across the UK.

Brighton was revealed to be the second most expensive place in the UK after London to buy a flat, with a salary of £54,419 needed to buy one at an average price of £302,180.

The city also came out as the third most expensive city in the UK to buy a terraced house and the fourth most expensive place to buy a semi-detached or detached property.

The study shows that the average detached property in Brighton and Hove now costs almost £700,000 and would need a salary of £123,960 to maintain.

According to data from payscale.com, the average salary in Brighton and Hove is £28,000, which is far less than the cost of an average home.

In Worthing, the average cost of a property was found to be £391,393 and requires a salary of £70,486, according to the findings.

Responding to the GoCompare study, Mr Winter said the dream of home ownership is becoming “more of a nightmare” for many people in Brighton and Hove.

Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust

He said: “Home ownership is not achievable for an increasing number of people in Brighton and Hove, especially young people – and it never will be.

“The temporary stamp duty holiday and the so-called “race for space” as households are trying to adjust to new ways of living and working because of the coronavirus pandemic, has done nothing but fuel house price inflation.

“The housing market is completely overheated.

“The only way we will begin to address the housing crisis is not through further spending of public money to subsidise private sales.

“Every time the government puts more money into home ownership initiatives, it pushes the price of housing up even further.”

Phil Graves, former president of the Brighton and Hove Estate Agent Association and director at Graves Jenkins property agents, said the city remains attractive.

Phil Graves, director at property agents Graves Jenkins

He said: “The statistics don’t surprise me as the city has always been seemingly unaffordable, yet plenty continue to want to live and work in the vicinity.

“The Covid-19 period has expedited property acquisition to the area, mainly from London – and who can blame them with what the city can offer.

“Although mortgages are becoming difficult to find for many with low deposits, the ‘bank of Mum and Dad’ comes into play, alongside the government initiative of Help to Buy and the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday.”