The COVID-19 pandemic has created a range of circumstances that have made the housing market tougher for first time buyers. House prices are skyrocketing, fewer mortgage deals are available, and there are delays all through the house buying process, and it’s harder for first-time buyers to save for a deposit.
But according to research by Coulters Property, the situation may not be as hopeless as it seems for first-time buyers if they are willing to relocate, and Liverpool is the city where the average house price to average salary ratio means that a deposit can be saved the quickest.
The local average salary in Liverpool is £23,314, and the data suggests that it would take four years and eight months to save up a 10 per cent deposit for the average Liverpool house, values at £109,520.
Overall, even with rapidly growing house prices in the North of England, it offers far greater affordability than the South.
All but one of the cities in the top 10 are located in Northern England or Scotland, including Stoke-on-Trent, Bradford, Blackpool, Dundee, and Glasgow. Only one Welsh city, Swansea, makes it into the top ten, with an average of seven years and three months to save for a deposit.
Few people will be surprised that it will take a first-time buyer on an average salary nearly 25 years to save for a 10 per cent deposit, and Oxford (24 years) and Cambridge (18 years) are not far behind.
Cheltenham, Reading, Slough, Exeter, and Bristol will all require over 12 years of saving to buy a house on the average local salaries.
The real issue highlighted by the report is that while average salaries are not vastly different around the UK, the difference in house prices is enormous.
The average salary in Oxford is £25,886, only around £2,500 more than Liverpool, whereas the average house price in Oxford is over £500,000, almost £400,000 more than the northern city.
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