Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 2 October 2026
source“House prices at their most affordable since 2015 compared to salaries”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates Daily Mail Money's claim that house prices are "at their most affordable since 2015 compared to salaries" a 2/10, because the headline accurately reflects Lloyds Banking Group's own finding that the price-to-income ratio fell to 7.3, its lowest since 2015, while the headline's own wording ("compared to salaries") correctly limits the claim and avoids implying buying has gotten cheaper or easier overall.
The Verdict
Lightly altered. This is close to the base fact: Lloyds' data really does show the house price-to-earnings ratio at its lowest since 2015, and the headline's qualifier "compared to salaries" honestly scopes the claim rather than overstating it as general affordability. The only drift is that the headline sits above a story whose own body shows rising mortgage rates have pushed monthly repayments up, a detail that doesn't change the ratio claim but does complicate the "more affordable" takeaway for anyone actually applying for a mortgage.
What actually happened
Lloyds Banking Group's affordability analysis found the average UK home now costs 7.3 times average household income, down from 7.6 a year earlier, the lowest ratio since 2015. The improvement was driven by earnings rising faster than house prices rather than prices falling in cash terms.
Key facts
- National price-to-income ratio: 7.3, down from 7.6 a year ago, lowest since 2015, per Lloyds.
- Average property price up 0.5% year-on-year to £299,131; average earnings up 4.5% to £40,790, so the narrowing comes from wage growth, not cheaper homes.
- First-time buyer ratio fell from 6.1 to 5.9, dropping below 6x earnings.
- Average monthly mortgage repayment rose from £1,100 to £1,157 over the past year as rates increased, per Lloyds.
- First-time buyer mortgage payments now take roughly 34% of income, versus 41% for renters, per Lloyds.
- Regional spread is wide: Inverclyde and Aberdeen are most affordable at 3.5x earnings; Elmbridge (17.4x) and Kensington and Chelsea (17.3x) remain least affordable.
What to watch for
- Watch whether the ratio keeps falling if mortgage rates climb further this quarter, since rising repayments (not the price-to-income ratio) are what actually determine whether buyers can get a mortgage.
- The Lloyds mortgages director's own comment flags that "affordability remains stretched for many households" and deposit-saving is still the binding constraint, a caveat easy to drop from future headlines on this data.
- Track whether next year's release shows the ratio reversing in fast-rising areas like Rossendale, Wrexham and Halton, which already saw affordability worsen this year.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
