"Figure 8: New dwellings remained less affordable than existing dwellings","" "Percentage difference of newly built and existing dwellings housing affordability ratio, England and Wales, 1997 to 2019","" "","" "Notes","1. 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. Affordability estimates for newly built and existing dwellings are calculated using the same earnings data, although the earnings of these two groups may differ. These affordability estimates provide an indication of affordability of new and existing dwellings, rather than a precise figure." "Unit","Percentage difference" "","" "","England","Wales" "1997","33.82","42.16" "1998","39.09","56.25" "1999","39.31","59.06" "2000","41.25","65.69" "2001","40.7","69.45" "2002","33.27","79.77" "2003","24.1","66.67" "2004","17.16","54.82" "2005","14.11","44.06" "2006","6.93","35.94" "2007","2.8","25.78" "2008","1.73","18.61" "2009","-1.25","11.45" "2010","-1.89","11.42" "2011","1.03","21.02" "2012","5.51","26.57" "2013","11.46","36.21" "2014","15.11","34.80" "2015","17.6","35.03" "2016","21.88","34.59" "2017","26.61","36.90" "2018","26.1","40.07" "2019","27.08","46.28"