The average price of a home in the Essex borough, at £210,327, is 5.58 times the average earnings in the area, compared to homes in Kensington & Chelsea, where the average house price (1,419,797) is 31 times earnings, according to new research from property group, CBRE.
The people of Barking & Dagenham have seen house price growth of 14.1pc over the last 12 months as first-time buyers search for the last affordable spots in Greater London in which to buy a house and those living in the central zones move further out to find value for money.
Tower Hamlets, an area growing in popularity, is the second most affordable borough in the capital’s sprawl with a house price to earnings ratio of 6.8, followed by Hillingon at 7.3.
Croydon, Havering, Newham, Bexley, Sutton, Lewisham and Redbridge were also included in the CBRE Top 100 affordable boroughs to buy.
“Since 2009, house prices in Greater London have increased by 44pc, in central London growth has been even higher,” said Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at CBRE.
“Over the same period earnings growth has been weak, and so housing affordability has inevitably worsened with the affordability gap increasing. This means, that given the disparity in both house prices and earnings across London, some boroughs have become more affordable than others.”