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Worcester · report

Affordability in Worcester

At the average sale price, a home costs £257,871. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £1,190 a month. The UK sets no cap on the payment; no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income.

Payment, two incomes
18%
Payment, one income
37%

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £257,871 in Worcester, the median pay of a full-time employee, £38,880 a year before tax (2025, Worcester), and a mortgage rate of 4.6% (August 2026).

Assumptions
The median is one full-time employee's pay before tax: two incomes is a couple who both earn it.
4.6

The payment takes 18% of pay before tax. The UK sets no limit on it.

Home price
£257,871
Monthly payment
£1,190
Share of pay before tax
18%

The mortgage payment as a share of income, year by year

The average home with 10% down over 30 years, at each year's average price and rate, against one and against two of that year's median full-time pay.

  • Two median incomes
  • One median income
Show the numbers
PeriodTwo median incomesOne median income
202517.3%34.6%
202419.7%39.5%
202215.4%30.8%
202113.8%27.6%
202014.2%28.4%
201913.7%27.3%
201814.0%28.1%
201713.3%26.6%
201614.2%28.3%

Income is the median gross annual pay of a full-time employee living in the area (ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings), before tax: one person's pay, not a household's income. Northern Ireland's councils take Northern Ireland's figure. The UK sets no limit on the payment as a share of income: no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income, and lenders test each borrower against higher rates. The Bank of England's rate on new mortgages starts in 2016, so earlier years show no payment.

Other reports for Worcester

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £255,424 and £284,914 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£270,169
Chance of a rise
86%

Renting the average home costs less each month than owning it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is the average of all private tenancies. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.

Rent per month
£984
Owning per month
£1,214

23.2% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
210
Per 1,000 residents
2.0

Figures for United Kingdom: Worcester has no reliable figures of its own.

Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q1 2025.

Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
1.8%

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more 7 times since 1995. The deepest began in October 2007.

Deepest fall
−21.9%
Recovery from the low
79 months

In 2025 the population grew by 378 while 230 homes were finished: 1.6 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
1.6
Population change, 2025
+378

4.0% of the 46,658 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
4.0%
Empty homes
1,880

In 2025, 13% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
13%