Most affordable place for first-time buyers is former mining heartland

A SCOTTISH council area has been named as the most affordable location in Britain for people trying to get on the property ladder.

Research from Nationwide Building Society has revealed the most and least affordable areas for first-time buyers, with locations in Scotland featuring in both the most and least affordable lists.

East Ayrshire is the most affordable place, analysis has found, with Edinburgh ranking highly on the lack of affordability front.

Edinburgh is the least affordable place to live in Scotland.

However, it was Kensington and Chelsea in London that is the least affordable location in Britain.

The Nationwide measured the typical first-time buyer house price to earnings ratios in local areas across Britain, using Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

In Kensington and Chelsea, the typical house price is 16.8 times earnings, the report found.

East Ayrshire, which covers the majority of the former coal mining communities such as Dalmellington, Auchinleck and Cumnock, was on the other end of the spectrum, with the average first-time buyer house prices at 2.3 times typical earnings.

Andrew Harvey, senior economist at Nationwide, said: “In Wales and Scotland, the respective capital cities see strong demand for housing and have the highest house price to earnings ratios.”

Looking at the areas that have seen the biggest improvements in affordability between 2015 and 2020, Mr Harvey said Aberdeen had seen the greatest improvement in Scotland.

He said: “The London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has seen the biggest improvement in affordability over the period, with the average first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio falling from 15.6 to 11.5.

“This was driven by a combination of lower prices – 12% lower than five years ago, and higher earnings – up 17% compared with 2015.

“In Scotland, Aberdeen has seen the greatest improvement in affordability, with average first-time buyer house price to earnings ratio declining from 4.7 to 3.2 in the last five years.

“This is predominantly due to the 28% fall in average prices over the period, though incomes have also risen by 7%.

“In the south-west of England, the district of Torridge in north Devon has seen its house price to earnings ratio improve from 6.2 to 5.3. This appears to be due to strong growth in earnings over the period, which were 32% higher compared with 2015.

“Affordability gains in other regions have been more modest. Overall, 25% of local authorities in Great Britain have seen an improvement in affordability compared with 2015.”

A recent house price survey by Bank of Scotland showed that Ayr saw the largest increase in house prices in comparison to the rest of Scotland.

The town recorded an increase of 15.5% (£23,839) in the last 12 months, taking the average house price from £154,145 up to £177,984.

Inverness had the largest growth in average price for a city in 2020, with an increase of 8.1% (£14,687) and an average property price of £195,534.

Meanwhile, Livingston recorded the largest drop in house prices for this year.

West Lothian’s largest town saw a fall in house prices of 8.1%, equivalent to £15,396, with the average house prices in the area dipping from £190,152 to £174,756 in the past 12 months.

Glasgow came fourth in the list for smallest rise of average house prices, with a mere increase of

2.1% for its properties as it average house price goes from £189,627 to £193,621 this year.

Overall, house hunters are advised to turn to Paisley in Renfrewshire if they are looking for the most affordable housing as it clocks in with the lowest average house price of £138,036, around three times average earnings.