Renting an apartment in Cambridge cost on average more than 1,500 British pounds per month in December 2023, making it the most expensive cities for renters in the UK after London. In London, the average rent ranged between 1,400 British pounds and 3,700 British pounds depending on the location. On the other hand, Northern Ireland, Wales, and North East were the regions with the most affordable rents.

The UK housing market continued to show significant regional variations in 2024, with London maintaining its position as the most expensive city for homebuyers. The average house price in the capital stood at 519,579 British pounds in October, nearly double the national average of 292,059 British pounds. However, the market dynamics are shifting, with London experiencing only a modest 0.2 percent annual increase, while other cities like Newcastle upon Tyne and Belfast saw more substantial growth of 8.8 percent and 6.8 percent respectively. Affordability challenges and market slowdown Despite the continued price growth in many cities, the UK housing market is facing headwinds. The affordability of mortgage repayments has become the biggest barrier to property purchases, with the majority of the respondents in a recent survey citing it as their main challenge. Moreover, a rising share of Brits have reported affordability as a challenge since 2021, reflecting the impact of rising house prices and higher mortgage rates. The market slowdown is evident in the declining housing transaction volumes, which have plummeted since 2021. European context The stark price differences are mirrored in the broader European context. While London boasts some of the highest property prices among European cities, a comparison of the average transaction price for new homes in different European countries shows a different picture. In 2023, the highest prices were found in Austria, Germany, and France.

The degree of urbanization in the United Kingdom amounted to 84.64 percent in 2023. This shows almost a three percentage point increase over the past decade. The upward trend, though slow, has been consistently positive. What is urbanization? The rate of urbanization indicates the shift away from rural living as people come together in densely populated cities. The United Kingdom is much more urban than the worldwide average. This puts people in closer proximity to jobs, health care, stores, and social opportunities, leading to better economic, health, and social outcomes. For example, areas with higher urbanization have a higher average life expectancy at birth. The darker side of urbanization London is the United Kingdom’s largest city and arguably the financial capital of Europe. However, this economic success has led to increasingly high rental prices, which is an indication of the high cost of living in the city. The higher population density can also lead in an increase in crime. London has one of the highest homicide rates in England and Wales. In spite of these drawbacks, London continues to draw millions of overseas tourists every year.

House prices vary widely in the United Kingdom (UK), but housing in certain cities and counties is substantially pricier than in others. Surrey, for example, concentrated four of the most expensive towns to buy a home, including Virginia Water, Cobham, and Esher. With an average house price of over one million British pounds as of June 2024, housing in these towns cost roughly four times the national average. How did house prices change since the COVID-19 pandemic? Since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, demand for housing has been especially high, causing house prices to soar. Among major UK cities, the house price increase was most prominent in Belfast, where it rose by 5.5 percent in 2024. According to the UK House Price Index, the average annual house price increase on a national level was even higher. How long does it take to sell a house? With the demand for housing going strong and inventory running low, aspiring homeowners need to act faster than ever when making an offer on a home. The average number of days on market has continued shortening since the start of 2021 and was a little over a month as of October 2021. Surprisingly, selling a property took the longest in the UK’s most competitive market - London.

FOCUSON**LONDON**2011:**POVERTY**:THE**HIDDEN**CITY

One of the defining features of London is that it is a city of contrasts. Although it is considered one of the richest cities in the world, over a million Londoners are living in relative poverty, even before the additional costs of living in the capital are considered.

This edition of Focus on London, authored by Rachel Leeser, presents a detailed analysis of poverty in London that reveals the scale and distribution of poverty in the capital.

REPORT:

Read the full report as a PDF.

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PRESENTATION:

What do we mean by living in poverty, and how does the model affect different types of families? This interactive presentation provides some clarity on a complex concept.

CHARTS:

The motion chart shows the relationship between child poverty and worklessness at borough level, and shows how these two measures have changed since 2006. It reveals a significant reduction in workless households in Hackney (down 12 per cent), and to a lesser extent in Brent (down 7 per cent).

The bar chart shows child poverty rates and the change in child poverty since 2006. It reveals that while Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of child poverty, it also has one of the fastest falling rates (down 12 per cent), though Haringey had the biggest fall (15 per cent).

Charts

DATA:

All the data contained within the Poverty: The Hidden City report as well as the data used to create the charts and maps can be accessed in this spreadsheet.

FACTS:

Some interesting facts from the data…

● Highest proportion of children in workless households, by borough, 2010

1. Westminster – 35.6%
2. Barking and Dagenham – 33.6%
3. Lewisham – 33.1%
4. Newham – 31.4%
5. Islington – 30.6%

-31. Barnet – 9.1%

-32. Richmond upon Thames – 7.0%

● Changes in proportions of workless households, 2006-09, by borough

1. Hackney – down 12.3%
2. Brent – down 7.3%
3. Tower Hamlets – down 4.8%
4. Lambeth – down 4.2%
5. Hillingdon – down 4.1%

-31. Enfield – up 5.8%

-32. Bexley – up 7.3%

● Highest reduction in rates of child poverty 2006-09, by borough:

1. Haringey – down 15.0%
2. Newham – down 12.9%
3. Hackney – down 12.8%
4. Tower Hamlets – down 12.1%
5. Southwark – down 11.5%

-31. Bexley – up 6.0%

-32. Havering – up 10.3%

The median annual earnings in the United Kingdom was 37,430 British pounds per year in 2024. Annual earnings varied significantly by region, ranging from 47,455 pounds in London to 32,960 pounds in the North East. Along with London, two other areas of the UK had median annual earnings above the UK average; South East England, and Scotland, at 39,038 pounds and 38,315 pounds respectively. Regional Inequality in the UK Various other indicators highlight the degree of regional inequality in the UK, especially between London and the rest of the country. Productivity in London, as measured by output per hour, was 33.2 percent higher than the UK average. By comparison, every other UK region, except the South East, fell below the UK average for productivity. In gross domestic product per head, London was also an outlier. The average GDP per head in the UK was 31,947 pounds in 2021, but for London it was 56,431 pounds. Again, the South East's GDP per head was slightly above the UK average, with every other region below it. Within London itself, there is also a great degree of inequality. In 2021, for example, the average earnings in the historic City of London borough were 1,138 pounds per week, compared with 588 pounds in Redbridge, a borough in the North East of London. Wages finally catch up with inflation in 2023 After the initial economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, wages began to steadily grow in the UK. This reached a peak in June 2021, when weekly wages for regular pay were growing at 7.3 percent, or 5.2 percent when adjusted for inflation. By that November, however, prices began to rise faster than wage growth, with inflation surging throughout 2022. In October 2022, for example, while regular pay was growing by 6.1 percent, the inflation rate had surged to 11.1 percent, Although inflation peaked in that month, it wasn't until June 2023 that wages started to outpace inflation. By this point, the damage caused by high energy and food inflation has precipitated the worst Cost of Living Crisis in the UK for a generation.

The average agreed rent for new tenancies in the UK ranged from 665 British pounds to 2,100 British pounds, depending on the region. On average, renters outside of London paid 1,095 British pounds, whereas in London, this figure amounted to 2,025 British pounds. Rents have been on the rise for many years, but the period after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend. Since 2015, the average rent in the UK increased by about 25 percent, with about half of that gain achieved in the period after the pandemic. Why have UK rents increased so much? One of the main reasons driving up rental prices is the declining affordability of homeownership. Historically, house prices grew faster than rents, making renting more financially feasible than buying. In 2022, when the house price to rent ratio index peaked, house prices had outgrown rents by nearly 30 percent since 2015. As house prices peaked in 2022, home buying slowed, exacerbating demand for rental properties and leading to soaring rental prices. How expensive is too expensive? Although there is no official requirement about the proportion of income spent on rent for it to be considered affordable, a popular rule is that rent should not exceed more than 30 percent of income. In 2024, most renters in the UK exceeded that threshold, with the southern regions significantly more likely to spend upward of 30 percent of their income on rent. Rental affordability has sparked a move away from the capital to other regions in the UK, such as the South East (Brighton and Southampton), the West Midlands (Birmingham) and the North West (Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool and Preston).

In the first quarter of 2024, Amsterdam was the most expensive city to rent a furnished one-bedroom apartment among the 23 leading European cities surveyed. At 2,300 euros per month, rent in Amsterdam was more than twice as high as in Brussels. Amsterdam was also the most expensive city to rent a private room.One of the main factors driving high rents across European cities is the same as any other consumer-driven business. If demand outweighs supply, prices will inflate. The drive for high paid professionals to be located centrally in prime locations, mixed with the low levels of available space, high land, and construction costs, all help keep rental prices increasing.

In the Brexit referendum of 2016, almost three quarters of people who lived in Edinburgh voted to remain in the European Union. Several other major cities also had a majority of remain voters, including the English cities of London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds. In the UK’s second-largest city, Birmingham, a slight majority of people voted to leave the European Union. Across the whole of the United Kingdom, the leave side was victorious after winning the votes of 17.4 million people. Perceptions on Brexit in 2025 Since the UK left the EU in 2020, the share of people who regret Brexit has been steadily increasing. As of January 2025, 55 percent of people in Great Britain thought that Brexit was the wrong decision, compared with 30 percent who still supported the decision. Furthermore, a survey from the same month suggested that people thought Brexit had reaped few benefits. Approximately 67 percent of those surveyed thought that it had negatively impacted the cost of living, and 65 percent believing it had diminished the UK economy as a whole. By contrast, the main positive impact of Brexit was seen as the UK's control over its own laws. Demographics of Brexit voters Although several major English cities supported the UK remaining in the EU, every English region, with the exception of Greater London, voted for Brexit. While Wales also supported leave, both Scotland and Northern Ireland had a majority who supported remain. There were also noticeable divisions across age groups, with younger voters typically more likely to vote against Brexit, compared with older ones who supported it. Almost three-quarter of 18 to 24-year-olds voted Remain, compared with 60 percent of those aged 65 or over who backed Leave.

The average transaction price of new housing in Europe was the highest in Norway, whereas existing homes were the most expensive in Austria. Since there is no central body that collects and tracks transaction activity or house prices across the whole continent or the European Union, not all countries are included. To compile the ranking, the source weighed the transaction prices of residential properties in the most important cities in each country based on data from their national offices. For example, in Germany, the cities included were Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Berlin. House prices have been soaring, with Sweden topping the ranking Considering the RHPI of houses in Europe (the price index in real terms, which measures price changes of single-family properties adjusted for the impact of inflation), however, the picture changes. Sweden, Luxembourg and Norway top this ranking, meaning residential property prices have surged the most in these countries. Real values were calculated using the so-called Personal Consumption Expenditure Deflator (PCE), This PCE uses both consumer prices as well as consumer expenditures, like medical and health care expenses paid by employers. It is meant to show how expensive housing is compared to the way of living in a country. Home ownership highest in Eastern Europe The home ownership rate in Europe varied from country to country. In 2020, roughly half of all homes in Germany were owner-occupied whereas home ownership was at nearly 97 percent in Romania or around 90 percent in Slovakia and Lithuania. These numbers were considerably higher than in France or Italy, where homeowners made up 65 percent and 72 percent of their respective populations.For more information on the topic of property in Europe, visit the following pages as a starting point for your research: real estate investments in Europe and residential real estate in Europe.

Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2023. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 117.5 index points. The index measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing nominal house price by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. An index value of 120, for example, would mean that house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent since 2015. How have house prices worldwide changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? House prices started to rise gradually after the global financial crisis (2007–2008), but this trend accelerated with the pandemic. The countries with advanced economies, which usually have mature housing markets, experienced stronger growth than countries with emerging economies. Real house price growth (accounting for inflation) peaked in 2022 and has since lost some of the gain. Although, many countries experienced a decline in house prices, the global house price index shows that property prices in 2023 were still substantially higher than before COVID-19. Renting vs. buying In the past, house prices have grown faster than rents. However, the home affordability has been declining notably, with a direct impact on rental prices. As people struggle to buy a property of their own, they often turn to rental accommodation. This has resulted in a growing demand for rental apartments and soaring rental prices.

Humbie and Gullane in East Lothian, were two of the most expensive towns for residential property in Scotland as of February 2022. The average house price in both towns was estimated at over 500,000 British pounds. In comparison, the average house price in Scotland was almost three times lower.

Which are the most expensive streets to live in Scotland? With the average house price valued at approximately 3.6 million British pounds, Whitehouse terrace, Edinburgh EH9 was the most expensive street for residential real estate in Scotland in 2022. This was almost twice higher than in the second priciest street, Caledonian crescent Auchterarder PH3.

Compared to other regions in the UK, Scotland is affordable Though 3.6 million British pounds is an impressive figure, not all housing in Scotland falls in this price bracket. In fact, with an average house price of about 170,000 British pounds, Scotland is the third most affordable region for first-time home buyers. Furthermore, it has the second lowest rent to income ratio in the UK.

At 8.07 U.S. dollars, Switzerland has the most expensive Big Macs in the world, according to the July 2024 Big Mac index. Concurrently, the cost of a Big Mac was 5.69 dollars in the U.S., and 6.06 U.S. dollars in the Euro area. What is the Big Mac index? The Big Mac index, published by The Economist, is a novel way of measuring whether the market exchange rates for different countries’ currencies are overvalued or undervalued. It does this by measuring each currency against a common standard – the Big Mac hamburger sold by McDonald’s restaurants all over the world. Twice a year the Economist converts the average national price of a Big Mac into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate at that point in time. As a Big Mac is a completely standardized product across the world, the argument goes that it should have the same relative cost in every country. Differences in the cost of a Big Mac expressed as U.S. dollars therefore reflect differences in the purchasing power of each currency. Is the Big Mac index a good measure of purchasing power parity? Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the idea that items should cost the same in different countries, based on the exchange rate at that time. This relationship does not hold in practice. Factors like tax rates, wage regulations, whether components need to be imported, and the level of market competition all contribute to price variations between countries. The Big Mac index does measure this basic point – that one U.S. dollar can buy more in some countries than others. There are more accurate ways to measure differences in PPP though, which convert a larger range of products into their dollar price. Adjusting for PPP can have a massive effect on how we understand a country’s economy. The country with the largest GDP adjusted for PPP is China, but when looking at the unadjusted GDP of different countries, the U.S. has the largest economy.

In 2023, the average cost of building a new rental house in the Netherlands reached 428 euros per cubic meter. Building owner-occupied property was slightly cheaper to construct. The source mentions that the numbers concern an average on granted building permits for newly to be constructed homes with a total construction cost of more than 50,000 euros (excluding taxes over the last 12 months). Permits which combine living areas with holiday homes and/or offices were not counted. Note that no numbers were provided on renovation.

What is the market size of the construction industry in the Netherlands?

As of 2022, the Netherlands had over 254,417 active construction companies. These companies were either active in the construction of buildings or development of building projects, civil engineering or were involved in specialized construction activities. One of the more internationally well-known Dutch construction firms is BAM, which is also active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany with project deliveries in Denmark, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The revenue of the Royal BAM Group reached a value of 6.3 billion euros in 2023.

How much do you pay for a house in the Netherlands?

Utrecht was one of the provinces in the Netherlands with the highest price for a single-family house. It is also important to look at the different prices in Dutch cities, as they can vary significantly. Residential property in Amsterdam, cities surrounding the Dutch capital (such as Haarlem) or Utrecht sold for much higher prices than a house in, for example, Rotterdam.

The statistic illustrates the occupancy rate of hotels in London by quarter from 2011 to 2013. In the first quarter of 2011 the occupancy rate of hotels in London was 75.8 percent.

London hotel occupancy rate - additional information

The highest occupancy rate for London hotels during this timeframe was forecasted for the third quarter of 2012 at 91.9 percent. A much lower occupancy rate of 75.2 percent was forecasted for the first quarter of 2013. When measuring the performance of a hotel, the occupancy rate is just one benchmark. In order to get an accurate indication of performance, the average daily rate (ADR) and the revenue per available room (RevPAR) should also be assessed.

As well as having a high occupancy rate in the third quarter of 2012, a high average daily rate was also forecasted for this time. This is likely to have been the case due to the Olympics being held in London from July 27 to August 12, 2012 – an event which cost more than 10 billion British pounds. The largest expense of the London 2012 Olympics was the venues, which cost around 2,700 pounds. Other large expenses included the Olympic Village and media centers and counter-terrorism operations.

London is the largest city in the United Kingdom, attracting nearly 15.5 million tourists in 2012. Edinburgh was the second most popular city, but a much smaller number of 1.26 million people visited there that year. London is generally an expensive place to visit, especially for business travelers for whom it was the sixth most expensive city in the world outside of the U.S. As the costs of living are so high, people working in London tend to earn more than their counterparts in the rest of the country. A hotel manager working in London could expect to earn anything from 50 to 200,000 British pounds a year.

The house price to income index in Europe declined in almost all European countries in 2023, indicating that income grew faster than house prices. Portugal, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands led the house price to income index ranking in 2023, with values exceeding 125 index points. Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland were on the other side of the spectrum, with less than 100 index points. The house price to income ratio is an indicator for the development of housing affordability across OECD countries and is calculated as the nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 chosen as a base year. A ratio higher than 100 means that the nominal house price growth since 2015 has outpaced the nominal disposable income growth, and housing is therefore comparatively less affordable. In 2023, the OECD average stood at 117.4 index points.

In the presented European countries, the homeownership rate extended from 42 percent in Switzerland to as much as 96 percent in Albania. Countries with more mature rental markets, such as France, Germany, the UK and Switzerland, tended to have a lower homeownership rate compared to the frontier countries, such as Lithuania or Slovakia. The share of house owners among the population of all 27 European countries has remained relatively stable over the past few years. Average cost of housing Countries with lower homeownership rates tend to have higher house prices. In 2023, the average transaction price for a house was notably higher in Western and Northern Europe than in Eastern and Southern Europe. In Austria - one of the most expensive European countries to buy a new dwelling in - the average price was three times higher than in Greece. Looking at house price growth, however, the most expensive markets recorded slower house price growth compared to the mid-priced markets. Housing supply With population numbers rising across Europe, the need for affordable housing continues. In 2023, European countries completed between one and six housing units per 1,000 citizens, with Ireland, Poland, and Denmark responsible heading the ranking. One of the major challenges for supplying the market with more affordable homes is the rising construction costs. In 2021 and 2022, housing construction costs escalated dramatically due to soaring inflation, which has had a significant effect on new supply.