Londoners now spend nearly half of their salaries on mortgage payments, owing to the rapid rise in interest rates over the past year, according to lender Halifax.
After UK base interest climbed to 5.25% through 14 consecutive hikes, Londoners have found themselves spending 49% of their incomes on mortgage payments.
This is up from 42% in the second quarter of 2022 and remains the biggest proportion paid by homeowners anywhere in Britain.
“London remains by far the most expensive place in the country to buy a home,” Halifax said.
London has indeed seen some of the slowest rates of house price growth over the year on the back of rising interest, with an average property in the city now worth £533,057.
Despite this, the house price to income ratio in England’s capital still sits at 9.3, down from 10.0 a year ago, making London, again, the highest of any British region.