HOME IN ON THE NORTH FOR TOP AFFORDABILITY

SUNDERLAND is the city where first-time buyers can get onto the property ladder in the quickest time.

Locals can typically save up a deposit in six years and eight months – which is 10 months sooner than anywhere else in the UK and 18 years faster than those trying to buy in London.

This is because Sunderland residents earn an average wage of £19,618, more than those in eight other cities, while enjoying the second lowest average property price at £127,500.

Bradford comes second for the shortest amount of time needed to save up a deposit at seven years and six months, and Belfast and Hull are in joint third at seven years and 10 months.

Nationally, it takes an average of 12 years for city dwellers to save the average £40,800 deposit needed to bag the keys to their first home which costs £254,900.

For Londoners the picture can be grim – it can take them 24 years and 11 months to save up a deposit, despite average earnings of £27,659 being 28% more than the typical salary in the study. This is because property prices in the capital are almost three times the national average at £749,500.

Buyers in Brighton could take an average of 18 years and 11 months, and in Oxford it’s 18 years and eight months.

The study, by comparison website Finder.com, compared the average salary in the UK’s 35 largest cities with local house prices, to work out how many years it would take a first-time buyer to afford a deposit if they saved 15% of their disposable income each month.

HOW TO REDUCE THE TIME YOU NEED TO SAVE FOR A DEPOSIT

Jon Ostler, chief executive at finder.com, offers his top tips:

■ Keep searching for the best interest rates. Something that makes a huge difference is ensuring you keep monitoring the market to get the best rate you can on your savings account. Even seemingly small increases in a savings rate can really reduce the time you spend saving due to the effects of compound interest (interest earned on interest over the years).

In our study we used a standard market rate of 1.18%, but if you saved your money in an account with no interest, it could take up to four years extra to save your deposit in some cities.

■ Get a Lifetime ISA. If you’re looking to buy a house, a Lifetime ISA can be a big help. You can put up to £4,000 in it per year and the Government will give you an extra 25% (up to £1,000) on top. An effective risk-free interest rate of 25% cannot be matched anywhere else, although you need to be a first-time buyer and use this on a property worth up to £250,000 (£450,000 in London).

■ Consider a stocks and shares ISA if you are saving over a long period of time. The returns are typically bigger – investing in a FTSE 100 index between 2010 and 2019 resulted in annual returns of 7.4% – significantly higher than the savings accounts rates of 1.5-2% that were available. But remember that capital is at risk, and your investment can also fall in value.

‘‘ The interest rate of 25% with Lifetime ISAs cannot be matched anywhere else