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London homes need salary of £93,000

The average house in London requires an aspiring owner to earn a salary of £93,000 a figure that rises to £303,000 if they want to be in Kensington and Chelsea

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Chelsea Stephen Bayley

Anyone who wants to own a house in London needs to be on a wage of £93,000, rising to £303,000 for one in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, a report has claimed.

The research by the National Housing Federation, which represents 1,200 housing associations, puts the average house price in London at £362,000.

A single buyer would need to earn just under a six-figure income to be eligible for a 90% mortgage at 3.5 times their salary. The average wage in London is £26,000.

The Housing Federation's Belinda Porich says: ‘Even by London standards, these are astronomical prices and many people - especially young, first time buyers - can only dream of owning a home.'

LONDON'S MOST EXPENSIVE AND CHEAPEST BOROUGHS Top: Kensington & Chelsea: £1,181,803 (required salary £303,892) Westminster: £779,563 (required salary £200,459) Camden: £651,580 (required salary £167,549) Hammersmith and Fulham: £565,485 (required salary £145,410) Bottom: Barking and Dagenham: £197,630 (required salary £50,819)

Arabella Youens
Arabella began her career at Country Life on the website as an intern. She read Modern History at Edinburgh University and spent a year working (photocopying) for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Barcelona before moving to London where she still lives with her husband and two young daughters.