Only one industry pays salaries high enough to afford the cost of an average UK home as non-owners give up on property prospects
- A single person now needs a salary of £56,476 to afford the average UK house price
- Only the financial and insurance activities industry provides a median salary high enough to afford the average UK home
- Over half (55%) of non-homeowners feel they won’t ever be able to buy a property
A new study has revealed that only one sector in the UK pays a salary high enough to afford the average house price.[1]
The figures estimate that an annual income of £56,476 is now needed for a single person to comfortably afford the mortgage repayments on the average UK house price of £270,000.[1] Yet, only the financial and insurance activities industry provides a median salary high enough to achieve this, at £58,488.[2]
The findings come from Go.Compare home insurance, which used a combination of survey data and ONS figures to uncover the state of housing affordability in the UK. The results highlighted that home ownership for a single person is now financially unattainable for much of the country.
The UK’s second highest-paid industry (electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply) falls marginally short at £55,469 - just over £1,000 less than the amount required. The information and communication industry provides the third-highest median salary at £52,264 - £4,212 under the target amount.
UK’s highest paid industries versus the amount needed to own a home
|
Industry |
Gross median annual pay, full-time (£) |
|
Financial and insurance activities |
£58,488 |
|
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply |
£55,469 |
|
Information and communication |
£52,264 |
|
Mining and quarrying |
£50,943 |
|
Professional, scientific and technical activities |
£46,208 |
|
Salary needed to own a home |
£56,476 |
The nation’s lowest-paid industry is accommodation and food services, in which the median salary is £28,687 – almost half the amount needed to afford a home comfortably. The household goods and services industry provides the second-lowest median salary at £31,400, leaving workers £25,000 short of the income required.
As a result, much of the nation has admitted that they’ve given up on the prospect of ever owning a home. Over half (55%) of non-homeowners say they don’t believe they’ll ever be able to buy a property, compared to just 37% who believe they will be.[3]
The number of people who consider home ownership to be important is also declining. Just over half (55%) of non-homeowners said they still feel home ownership is important – a drop from 76% when Go.Compare last asked a similar question in 2024.[4] Just over one-quarter (29%) said they feel owning a home is no longer important.[3]
Nathan Blackler, home insurance spokesperson at Go.Compare, said: “It’s shocking to see that only one of our industries is offering a big enough wage for its workers to afford the average UK home. Although these are only median salaries, they reflect the difficult situation that most renters and residents who haven’t yet bought a property find themselves in.
“Simply put, house prices have accelerated far beyond wage growth in recent years, placing properties way out of budget for the average worker. The gap has started to close since the last time we conducted this research, but when home ownership is this unattainable, more definitely needs to be done to support first-time buyers.
“At a time when costs are high across the board, remember that there are ways to minimise your expenses and boost your prospects. Regularly comparing prices for things like your energy bills and home insurance will help you stay on a cheaper rate, while utilising budgeting apps could help you find areas to cut your spending, like subscription services you aren’t using anymore.”
Speaking to Go.Compare, Paula Higgins, chief executive at HomeOwners Alliance, urged first-time buyers not to give up: “One helpful way to start is by taking advantage of the many banking apps that let you set up separate pots, so when your salary lands, money can be automatically moved into your house deposit fund. Passive saving that you barely notice can be the best kind, because it happens automatically before you get the chance to spend it.
“If you can, share the load with friends and family. Start by talking to your nearest and dearest about your plans, it makes them more real and will help you stay motivated to save. If it's an option, moving back in with parents or relatives, even if just for six months, means the money you would spend on rent could be diverted to boost your deposit fund.”
More insights on housing affordability can be found on Go.Compare’s website.
//ENDS//
Contact Information
Alex McCormick
Notes to editors
[1] House prices were taken from HM Land Registry UK House Price Index: December 2025. Monthly repayments were calculated based on the 90% mortgage with a 4.26% interest rate over 25 years. Retrieved: February 2026.
The average salary needed to buy (£56,476) was calculated assuming that monthly mortgage repayments should take up no more than 28% of your gross earnings (based on the HomeOwners Alliance). This was applied to the average UK house price (£270,000, as above).
[2] Salaries by industry were sourced from the ONS dataset: 2025 Earnings and hours worked, UK region by industry by two-digit SIC.
[3] Sourced from a survey conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Go.Compare, among a sample of 2,000 UK Nationally Representative Consumers aged 18+. The data was collected between 08 January 2026 to 12 January 2026.
Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.
[4] The previous version of this report was based on a survey of 2,000 UK residents via YouGov. The survey was run on 3 July 2024 and all responses were selected at random. The results have been weighted to be representative of the population of Great Britain.
For further information please contact:
Front Door Communications at go.compare@fdcomms.co.uk
Keep up to date with Go.Compare on Twitter: @GoCompare or you can call 02920 020360
About Go.Compare
Go.Compare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.
It does not charge people to use its services and does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. Go.Compare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.
When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. It is this approach to comparing products that secured the company an invitation to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) in 2008, and it is still the only comparison site to be a member of this organisation.
Go.Compare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest and works with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.
Go.Compare is part of Future Plc and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
More information can be found here www.gocompare.com or here https://www.futureplc.com/brands/.