HouseSimple has put together a new research listing the most affordable places to buy a home in the UK, but where are they and how much will a home actually set you back?
It’s official, Britain’s most affordable cities are Kingston upon Hull, Middlesbrough, Kilmarnock and Birkenhead. All of these places list 90% of their properties for sale at a price below the national average of £217,502.
Kingston upon Hull has 91.9% of homes listed below this price, Birkenhead and Kilmarnock both have 91.8% listed below average and Middlesbrough has 90.2% of properties listed at a lower price than average.
The HouseSimple report also had a closer look at the most expensive regions, especially outside of London. Those least affordable areas include Brighton, Bath, Guildford, Tunbridge Wells and Crawley. In all of these cities only 10% of properties or less have a current price tag below national average.
Alex Gosling, chief executive officer at HouseSimple, explained:
“The lack of affordable properties in the UK has become a recurring theme as house prices have continued to rise. So, it will probably come as a surprise to many people, that there are still major towns and cities where almost every property for sale is below the UK average house price.”
“Average salaries in these areas may still restrict people from buying a property but at least there’s a pool of properties that someone with a small deposit could afford. And towns such as Hull and Grimsby offer hope to the many first time buyers trying to climb on the property ladder, with more than half of the current stock on the market below £100,000,” he added.
However, Gosling also pointed out that England’s South experienced a very different process. As Bath and Brighton are both very popular cities, especially with Londoners who want to move out and get more enjoyment out of life, prices have rocketed with it. For many, this meant moving away was the only option as they couldn’t afford the inflated prices.
“Less than 10% of properties in these cities are below the average UK property price, and properties under £100,000 are almost extinct. First time buyers, unless they have help from parents, are facing the prospect of holding off buying until well into their 30s, if at all.”
