Copeland has retained its position as the most affordable local authority area to buy housing.

The Office for National Statistics said the borough had the lowest price-to-income ratio in England and Wales in 2019 at 2.8, a slight increase on 2018.

The place with the highest price to income ratio was Kensington and Chelsea in London with a ratio of 39.6.

The housing affordability gap between the most and least costly places to live in England and Wales has narrowed for the first time in four years, mainly due to price falls in the cheapest areas.

Newly-built homes were less affordable than existing properties in both England and Wales in 2019, costing around 9.6 times average annual earnings in England and 8.3 times average annual earnings in Wales.

ONS head of housing analysis Nigel Henretty said: "This is the first significant improvement in housing affordability in England for 10 years.

"While housing remained significantly more affordable in Wales than in England, the gap between the most affordable and least affordable local areas decreased for the first time in four years. This was driven mainly by decreasing house prices in the least affordable areas."