UK's most expensive and cheapest cities for first-time home buyers

A new buyer with a 10 per cent deposit will pay less than renting in about half of the UK's cities

Properties for sale in Islington, north London, in December 2022. PA

Bradford in Yorkshire has been named the cheapest city in the UK for those looking to buy their first property, with London being the most expensive.

Average asking prices for typical first-time buyer homes with a maximum of two bedrooms in 60 major cities across Britain were compiled by property website Rightmove.

The research made several assumptions, including that first-time buyers had a 10 per cent deposit and would be paying back their mortgage over 25 years.

The average asking price for a typical first-time-buyer property in Bradford is £104,643 (about $130,000), which could lead to monthly mortgage payments of about £521, Rightmove said.

Carlisle in Cumbria was identified as the second cheapest city for first-time buyers, with an average monthly mortgage payment of £522.

Excluding London, St Albans in Hertfordshire was named as the priciest city in which to get on the property ladder, with average monthly mortgage payments calculated at £1,958.

The leafy cathedral city is popular with families and commuters, with train links into London.

In London, the average monthly mortgage payment for a first-time buyer was put at £2,533.

Rightmove said its findings suggested paying a monthly first-time buyer mortgage with a 10 per cent deposit is cheaper than renting in about half of the cities it looked at.

This rises to two thirds of cities if buyers are able to raise a deposit of 15 per cent of the purchase price.

Rightmove’s findings also indicated that first-time buyers in Glasgow could make the biggest monthly savings by getting on the ladder, with the average mortgage payment for a first home being £215 a month cheaper than the average rent.

At the other end, first-time buyers in St Albans could end up paying £525 more a month on first homes than when they were renting, the research indicated.

Across Britain, a typical first-time home has a record price tag of £226,399, Rightmove said.

“For those who are able to save up the deposit, it’s still cheaper to pay off a mortgage as a first-time buyer in many areas than pay the equivalent in monthly rent, despite prices reaching a new record at a national level and mortgage rates rising," Rightmove property expert Tim Bannister said.

“It highlights how frenetic the rental market has been for a long time now, with many areas continuing to see record rents and fierce competition between tenants for the properties available.

“It helps to explain why we’re seeing such determination from first-time buyers to continue to get on to the ladder despite the economic headwinds that they face, and why we’re seeing buyers increasingly return to cities while a bigger proportion of renters are looking to move away.”