This series looks at the ratio between the lowest quartile (25 per cent) house prices and the lowest quartile earnings. It gives an indication of whether someone in the lower earnings band could afford to buy a house. In 2012, in Rural-80 areas the average lower quartile house price was 8.4 times the average lower quartile earnings. This will underestimate affordability in instances where a household has more than one income from earnings – for example when a couple combine their earnings to buy a house.