Imofolio

Test Valley · report

Affordability in Test Valley

At the average sale price, a home costs £372,289. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £1,718 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
25%
Payment, one income
51%

Try your own numbers

Starting from the average sale price of £372,289 in Test Valley, the median pay of a full-time employee, £40,576 a year before tax (2025, Test Valley), 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 25% of pay before tax. The UK sets no limit on it.

Home price
£372,289
Monthly payment
£1,718
Share of pay before tax
25%

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
202524.7%49.4%
202427.0%54.0%
202328.2%56.4%
202221.3%42.6%
202119.5%38.9%
202017.6%35.3%
201918.4%36.8%
201818.7%37.5%
201717.6%35.2%
201618.3%36.7%

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 Test Valley

Sale prices have an 80% chance of landing between £352,112 and £391,532 by August 2027.

Expected, August 2027
£371,822
Chance of a rise
49%

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
£1,236
Owning per month
£1,753

79.6% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
90
Per 1,000 residents
0.7

Figures for United Kingdom: Test Valley 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 10 times since 1995. The deepest began in November 2007.

Deepest fall
−21.4%
Recovery from the low
63 months

In 2025 the population grew by 523 while 160 homes were finished: 3.3 new residents for every new home.

New residents per new home, 2025
3.3
Population change, 2025
+523

4.0% of the 57,107 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
4.0%
Empty homes
2,265

In 2025, 3% of the homes added came from existing buildings rather than new ones.

Homes from existing buildings, 2025
3%