Kingston upon Hull, Middlesbrough, Kilmarnock and Birkenhead are the most affordable cities in the UK to buy a home, new research has found.
All have more than 90% of properties listed for sale below the UK average house price of £217, 502. Kingston upon Hull has 91.9% of homes for sale below the average, Birkenhead and Kilmarnock both have 91.8% and Middlesbrough 90.2%.
The research from online estate agents House Simple also shows that outside of London, the most expensive city in the UK, the least affordable areas include Brighton, Bath, Guildford, Tunbridge Wells and Crawley where less than 10% of properties for sale are below the UK average house price.
In Bath, just 6.8% of properties being marketed are priced lower than the UK average, while in Guildford it is 7%, in Crawley 8.8%, in Tunbridge Wells 9% and in Brighton 9.5%.
‘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,’ said Alex Gosling, chief executive officer of HouseSimple.
‘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 pointed out.
But he also pointed out that the picture is very different in the south of England. ‘Bath and Brighton are classic examples. Both are extremely popular cities, particularly for Londoners wanting to move out and enjoy a better quality of life. But prices have rocketed as a result and moved away from many buyers,’ he explained.
‘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,’ he added.
