Most and least expensive cities for first-time buyers revealed

Bradford in Yorkshire has been identified as Britain’s cheapest city to get on the property ladder, while London was named as the most expensive location.

Property website Rightmove looked at average asking prices for typical first-time buyer-type homes with a maximum of two bedrooms in 60 major urban locations across Britain to make the findings.

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

The average asking price for a typical first-time-buyer-type property in Bradford is £104,643, which could potentially lead to monthly mortgage payments of around £521, Rightmove said.

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

St Albans in Hertfordshire was identified by Rightmove as one of the priciest locations for people trying to get on the property ladder (Chris Radburn/PA)

Excluding London, St Albans in Hertfordshire was named as the priciest city 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.

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

Rightmove said its findings suggest paying a monthly first-time buyer mortgage with a 10% deposit is cheaper than renting in around half of the cities it looked.

This rises to two-thirds of cities if buyers are able to raise a bigger deposit, at 15% of the purchase price.

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

At the other end of the spectrum, first-time buyers in St Albans could potentially end up paying £525 more per month when on the property ladder than they were when they were renting, the research indicated.

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

Rightmove’s property expert Tim Bannister 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.

“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 onto 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.”

Here are the top five cheapest cities for first-time buyers, out of the locations looked at by Rightmove. Figures show the average asking price for a first-time buyer home, the potential monthly mortgage cost, the potential monthly rent and the potential monthly cost of a mortgage versus renting: 

1. Bradford, £104,643, £521, £623, minus £102

2. Carlisle, £104,784, £522, £556, minus £34

3. Aberdeen, £106,088, £528, £718, minus £190

4. Hull, £106,939, £532, £595, minus £63

5. Dundee, £111,415, £555, £731, minus £176

Here are the top five most expensive cities for first-time buyers, out of the locations looked at by Rightmove. Figures show the average asking price for a first-time buyer home, the potential monthly mortgage cost, the potential monthly rent and the potential monthly cost of a mortgage versus renting: 

1. London, £508,879, £2,533, £2,054, £479

2. St Albans, £393,485, £1,958, £1,433, £525

3. Bath, £354,636, £1,765, £1,342, £423

4. Cambridge, £354,181, £1,763, £1,522, £241

5. Oxford, £351,943, £1,752, £1,422, £330