Bexley has come joint-top of London’s affordability league for homebuyers, with the average home in the borough costing 8.5 times average full-time earnings, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The figures, which cover house prices in the 12 months to August alongside earnings for 2026, put Bexley level with Tower Hamlets at the top of the ranking. The average home in Bexley cost £415,000 over the period, up 1.9% on the previous year, against average full-time earnings in the borough of £48,966.
That 8.5 ratio is the joint lowest anywhere in the capital — but it is still well above the national average of 6.7, a reminder that even London’s most affordable boroughs ask buyers to stretch considerably further than the country as a whole.
What the ratio actually measures
The ranking is not a list of the cheapest homes in cash terms. It divides the average house price by average full-time earnings, which is why two boroughs with very different price tags can end up in the same place.
Tower Hamlets, which shares the top spot, has a higher average price than Bexley at £448,000 — but its average full-time earnings are also higher, at £52,603 a year, which brings its ratio to the same 8.5. The two boroughs arrived there by opposite routes: Bexley’s average price rose 1.9% over the year, while Tower Hamlets’ fell 13.3%.
That distinction matters for anyone reading the list as a buying guide. A lower ratio means homes are more affordable relative to what local workers typically earn — not that every home there is cheap.
Cheaper in cash, dearer by the ratio
In fact, several boroughs have lower average prices than Bexley in straightforward cash terms. Barking and Dagenham has the lowest average price on the list at £370,000, followed by Newham at £388,000 and Croydon at £397,000 — all below Bexley’s £415,000.
They rank lower on affordability because earnings there are lower too. Barking and Dagenham’s average full-time earnings of £39,281 give it a ratio of 9.4, despite its cheaper homes, while Newham (earnings £44,290) sits at 8.8 and Croydon (earnings £46,130) at 8.6, just behind the joint leaders.
Greenwich follows at 9.3, with an average price of £463,000 against earnings of £50,007, while Havering and Bromley both sit at 9.4 — Havering on a £445,000 average price and £47,163 earnings, Bromley on £520,000 and £55,383.
The other end of the scale
At the far end of the table, Kensington and Chelsea stands apart. The average home there cost £1,204,000 in the 12 months to August — more than 20 times average full-time earnings of £58,502, a ratio of 20.6, even after prices fell 13.8% over the year.
Richmond upon Thames follows at 14.5 (£814,000 against £56,121 earnings), then Camden at 13.8 (£798,000 against £57,893) and Westminster at 13.4 (£887,000 against £66,106). The City of London is listed separately with an average price of £727,000 but no earnings figure, so no ratio is given.
What it means for buyers
For buyers, the table is best read as a starting point rather than a verdict. Averages hide enormous variation within each borough — between flats and houses, between neighbourhoods, and between homes in different condition — and the figures reflect the 12 months to August, not today’s asking prices.
Still, the headline finding is a useful corrective to the idea that London’s housing market is uniformly out of reach. In Bexley, where the borough’s high streets and neighbourhoods have featured in recent local coverage — from food hygiene ratings across its takeaways to a dispersal zone in Blackfen and a police cordon at a Bexleyheath bus stand — the typical home costs eight and a half years of typical local earnings. In Kensington and Chelsea, it costs more than twenty.
That gap, more than any single price, is what the affordability ranking captures — and it is why Bexley, rather than the borough with the lowest price tag, sits at the top of it.
