Historic cities freezing out the first-time buyer
WARWICK is the most unaffordable area for first-time buyers in the country, a report suggests.
According to Post Office Money. nearly half of all areas across the UK have average property prices that are unobtainable for those trying to get on the housing ladder.
Only 56 per cent of areas have house prices that are affordable for those hoping to get the keys to their first home.
Homes were deemed affordable if they cost less than four-and-a-half time’s typical local first-time buyer incomes, according to the report, which used Office for National Statistics data.
Areas in more than 80 locations across the country were analysed.
Blackpool, Lincoln and Hull topped the list of first-time buyer hotspots where properties were particularly affordable.
The report found that 100 per cent of areas within these locations had average house prices which were affordable.
But historic Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge and York were among the first-time buyer coldspots, with no areas where average house prices were deemed affordable for people taking their first step on the property ladder.
In London, where wages are often higher than elsewhere in the UK, 19 per cent of areas were still found to
be affordable for local buyers, despite the capital’s relatively high house prices compared with the rest of the country.
In both Worcester and Leeds, half (50 per cent) of areas were found to be affordable for first-time buyers.
Sandwell, in the West Midlands was found to be very affordable at 92 per cent. Ross Hunter, product director, Post Office Money, said: “While we have seen house price growth slow in the last year, properties can still seem particularly unaffordable for first-time buyers.
“We know that saving for a deposit remains the most significant hurdle for young buyers to overcome in order to achieve their home ownership aspirations. It can take years of The 10 areas found to be least affordable for local first-time buyers (percentage of areas within each location where average house prices were deemed to be affordable):
=1. Warwick, Warwickshire, 0%
=1. Guildford, Surrey, 0%
=1. Woking, Surrey, 0%
=1. Oxford, Oxfordshire, 0%
=1. Watford, Hertfordshire, 0%
=1. Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, 0%
=1. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 0%
=1. York, North Yorkshire, 0% 9. Bath and North East Somerset, 4%
=10. Reading, Berkshire, 6%
=10. Edinburgh, Scotland, 6%
dedicated effort in order the necessary funds.
“There are a number of ways that prospective homeowners can reduce their time spent saving, such as taking on a fixer-upper property or looking in a cheaper area close to where they might have previously considered.”
Post Office Money has an online tool that allows first-time buyers to hunt for their most affordable local areas and work out how long they it will take them to save for their deposit at www.postoffice.co.uk/ mortgages/deposit-calculator.
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