THE most affordable place in Britain for people trying to get on to the property ladder is East Ayrshire, analysis has found.
Nationwide Building Society measured by typical first-time buyer house price to earnings ratios in local areas across Britain, using Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. The report found the least affordable area in Scotland is the city of Edinburgh, where house prices are 5.4 times earnings.
At the other end of the spectrum, East Ayrshire has 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 areas which have seen the biggest improvements in affordability between 2015 and 2020, Harvey 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, the city of 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, 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.”
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