New research compiled for Hometrack has revealed that just under a quarter, 24.3%, of young working households have little chance of accessing home ownership in their local housing market. High house prices and rising interest rates are increasingly limiting access to the housing market with some of the worst affected areas in the South West of England.

The research also sets out new analysis that highlights how the cost of renting is cheaper than buying. The report, Can’t buy: Can rent – the affordability of private housing in Great Britain, has been written by Professor Steve Wilcox of the University of York, using Hometrack data on house prices and rental levels.

The findings present a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the state of housing affordability across every local authority in Great Britain and builds on earlier analysis conducted for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation between 2002 and 2005.

The report presents an analysis of affordability measures including; local house price to income ratios and the affordability of private rented housing. The analysis of house price to household income ratios is based on the average price of a 2/3 bedroom home.

At a regional level it shows the highest ratio is in London (5.08:1) closely followed by the South West (4.84:1) and the South East (4.67:1).

At a local level, the analysis reveals that there are forty areas with a house price to income ratio higher than 5.50:1. The least affordable authority is identified as Kensington & Chelsea, with a house price to household income ratio of 9.23:1. In addition a further eight London authorities have ratios in excess of 5.50:1.

The report also identifies the proportion of young working households who are unable to access the property market in their local area at the lowest level – the so called Intermediate Housing Market (IHM). The analysis shows that, nationally a quarter (24.3%), of young working households are unable to purchase property at the lowest level in their local housing market.

Regionally the South West has the greatest proportion of young households priced out of the market (34.0%) followed by London (31.5%) and the South East (30.2%). Scotland is the most affordable area with 15.8% of young working households priced out of the market.