TRAFFORD’S surging house prices mean homes have “earned” £14,000 more than their owners in the past two years – the highest in the North West.

Average house prices have increased by more than average employees' net earnings in 31 per cent of local authority districts over a two-year period, according to Halifax.

The proportion of areas where house price rises are out-pacing earnings has increased since 2015, when it stood at 28 per cent.

Unsurprisingly, districts in the south account for more than nine in 10 (93 per cent) of the areas where house prices are rising by more than their owners are bringing in from their wages, by as much as £91,450.

And Trafford was the top-performing authority in the North West in terms of house prices keeping up with or out-pacing wages.

In Trafford, house prices have grown by more than £14,000 more than the average wage coming in over the last two years.

The average earnings sat at £50,368 compared to the £64,539 house price hike.

Interestingly, Trafford workers earned just as much, if not more, than their London counterparts.

But soaring London house prices far outstripped the earning potential of Trafford homes, with an average increase at more than £100,000 over the past two years.

Halifax found there were no local authority districts in North East of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland where house price growth has out-paced earnings over the last two years.

Martin Ellis, a housing economist at Halifax, said: "While it's no longer unusual for houses to 'earn' more than the people living in them in some places, there are clearly local impacts.

"Homeowners in these areas can build up large levels of equity quickly, but for potential buyers whose wages have failed to keep pace, the cost of buying a home has become more unaffordable during that time."

Figures from Halifax's house price database and Office for National Statistics (ONS) earnings figures were used to make the findings.