"Figure 5: The least affordable local authorities had the largest improvement in affordability","" "Indices of median housing affordability for local authorities. England and Wales, 1997 to 2019","" "","" "Notes","1. Median housing affordability ratio refers to the ratio of median price paid for residential property to the median workplace-based gross annual earnings for full-time workers. 2. Data for annual earnings are not available before 1999 and for some local authorities in some years. For these years the earnings relate to annualised weekly earnings. Annualised weekly earnings are not produced on an identical basis to annual earnings and so care should be taken when making comparisons. Refer to the dataset accompanying this release for information on which ratios are based on annualised weekly earnings. 3. The lines represent the two local authorities that were the most and least affordable in 2019. " "Unit","Index 1997=100" "","" "","Kensington and Chelsea","Westminster","Blaenau Gwent","Copeland" "1997","100","100","100","100" "1998","101.27","107.74","91.4","94.39" "1999","111.04","120.2","94.57","97.45" "2000","122.07","137.25","98.64","87.24" "2001","124.02","146.85","94.57","86.73" "2002","124.19","153.72","105.43","86.73" "2003","130.05","158.88","103.17","92.86" "2004","142.28","155.16","140.27","118.88" "2005","145.42","163.04","171.49","150" "2006","159.42","175.5","194.12","162.24" "2007","190.07","182.52","203.17","158.67" "2008","186.84","198.71","228.51","155.1" "2009","191.6","192.84","168.78","142.35" "2010","206.62","211.03","176.47","168.88" "2011","211.29","233.81","164.25","146.43" "2012","241.77","230.23","162.9","129.59" "2013","259.59","283.09","159.28","134.18" "2014","325.38","319.2","158.82","135.71" "2015","322.16","320.06","152.94","132.14" "2016","330.48","351","168.78","146.43" "2017","348.39","356.88","153.39","138.78" "2018","373.26","353.01","162.9","127.55" "2019","336.33","311.6","144.34","141.84"