Having grown faster than the UK overall in 2014, Buckinghamshire’s annual growth on this measure fell back below the national rate in 2015, the fifth time GDHI has grown more slowly in Buckinghamshire that across the UK as a whole in the last six years.  Since 2007, growth in GDHI in Buckinghamshire has been among the slowest in the country.

The South East region has the 2nd highest GDHI per capita behind London among the 12 UK regions but its growth on this measure was below the national rate over the last year and since the recession.  The South East’s GHDI is now only 88.9 per cent of London’s, a new low, having last been higher than London’s in 2004.  Despite failing to keep pace with London, the South East’s GHDI is now 23.3 per cent of the rest of the UK outside London’s, a new high.

Table 1: Gross disposable household income per capita, 2015

Source: ONS, 2017

In absolute terms, Buckinghamshire’s gross disposable household income stood at £13.4bn in 2015.  Although this is the 14th highest of all NUTS 3 areas, recent growth has been weak, having risen just 23.4 per cent from 2007 to 2015, the 113th highest rate of growth and well below the South East and UK rates of 26.2 and 26.6 per cent respectively.

Buckinghamshire generates 17.2 per cent of its GDHI from property include, the highest share recorded among the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships, while for employment accounts for 76.9 per cent to rank 10th.

Despite weak recent growth, over the next ten years Buckinghamshire’s household disposable income will grow by an average of 2.1 per cent per annum, compared to just 1.9 per cent per annum across the UK, according to Experian’s March 2017 Local Market Forecast ©.  The South East region is forecast to see an average annual increase of 2.2 per cent.